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THE    CITIZEN'S    LIBRARY 


The  American  City:  a  Problem 
in  Democracy 


BY 

DELOS    F.   WILCOX,    Ph.D. 


XrfD  gork 
THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  AND  CO.,  Ltd. 
1904 

All  right*  retfrred 


^S' 


ivl"3m: 


Copyright,  1904, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up,  elcctrotyped,  and  published  May,  1904. 


Norto0oli  33reg8 

J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 

Several  years  ago,  in  my  little  book  on  "  The  Study 
of  City  Government,"  I  outlined  what  seemed  to  me  the 
principal  governmental  problems  of  the  city,  grouped 
under  "functions,"  "control,"  and  "organization."  In 
that  book  I  attempted  merely  to  point  the  way  to  the 
study  of  problems  which  I  believed  to  be  of  command- 
ing interest.  Since  that  time,  1897,  an  immense  body 
of  literature  dealing  with  those  problems  has  come  into 
existence.  The  nature  of  the  present  volume  is  such 
that  I  have  not  considered  it  necessary  to  prepare  an 
elaborate  bibliography  of  this  literature.  My  concern 
here  is  not  to  present  an  exhaustive  array  of  facts  and 
theories,  but  to  discuss  what  seem  to  me  to  be  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  American  city  problem, 
and  point  out,  if  possible,  its  real  relations  to  the  great 
problem  of  human  freedom  as  it  is  being  worked  out 
in  American  political  institutions.  All  those  readers 
who  are  unfamiliar  with  the  existing  literature  on 
municipal  subjects  can  find  guidance  for  further  read- 
ing in  Dr.  Robert  C.  Brooks's  "  A  Bibliography  of 
Municipal  Problems  and  City  Conditions,"  published 
as  the  March,  1901,  issue  of  Municipal  Affairs.  In- 
deed, Municipal  Affairs  itself  is  a  storehouse  of  litera- 
ture on  these  subjects,  and  the  volumes  of  this  magazine 


vi  AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 

covering  the  period  from  1897  to  1902  are  of  extraordi- 
nary value  to  the  student  of  city  problems.  Another 
exceptionally  valuable  collection  of  reports  and  discus- 
sions of  municipal  questions  is  found  in  "  Proceedings 
of  the  National  Municipal  League,"  1894  to  1903.  For 
those  interested  in  municipal  problems  from  the  stand- 
point of  practical  administration,  the  Municipal  Journal 
and  Engineer  will  be  found  a  useful  magazine. 

I  am  particularly  indebted  to  Dr.  Milo  Roy  Maltbie, 
of  New  York,  for  generous  aid  in  the  collection  of 
materials  used  in  this  book,  and  for  the  careful  perusal 
and  criticism  of  the  manuscript. 

D.  F.  W. 

Grand  Rapids,  Michigan, 
April  21,  1904. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  Democracy  and  City  Life  in  America         .        ,  i 

II.  The  Street 28 

III.  The  Control  of  PublTc  Utilities         ...  52 

IV.  Civic  Education,  or  the  Duty  to  the  Future  .  91 
V.  The  Control  of  Leisure 121 

VI.  Municipal  Insurance 174 

VII.  Civic  Cooperation 200 

VIII.  Local  Centres  of  Civic  Life         ....  229 

IX.  Popular  Responsibility 244 

X.  Official  Responsibility 276 

XL  Local  Responsibility,  or  Municipal  Home  Rule  313 

XII.  Municipal  Revenues        .        .        .        .        .        -341 

XIII.  Municipal  Debt 386 

XIV.  A  Program  of  Civic  Effort 402 


Index 


417 


THE  AMERICAN  CITY:  A  PROBLEM 
IN  DEMOCRACY 

CHAPTER   I 

DEMOCRACY  AND   CITY  LIFE  IN  AMERICA 

Three  hundred  years  ago  the  United  States 
was  a  wilderness  of  forest,  mountain,  and  untilled 
prairie.  The  first  European  settlers  who  came  to 
the  New  World  were  actuated  by  various  motives ; 
but  those  who  settled  on  the  eastern  coast  of  what 
is  now  the  United  States  were  not,  for  the  most 
part,  adventurers.  Three  or  four  noble  motives 
stand  out  as  characteristic  of  that  early  immigra- 
tion.    These  motives  were  :  — 

Firsts  the  desire  for  religious  liberty ; 

Second,  the  desire  for  political  freedom ; 

Third,  the  desire  for  opportunity  to  make  an 
honest  living,  that  is  to  say,  for  a  share  in  nature's 
bounty;  and. 

Fourth,  the  desire  to  conquer  a  new  continent 
for  Christianity  and  civilization. 

Along  with  such  motives  as  these  went  the  cour- 
iage  to  face  the  wilderness  and  endure  the  dangers 
and  privations  attendant  upon  pioneer  life  in  a 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

remote  quarter  of  the  world.  The  settlement  of 
America  was  indeed  a  war  in  the  wilds,  a  series 
of  bloody  and  hard-fought  battles  with  want,  with 
disease,  with  cunning  and  fierce  savages.  _It  was 
thejiesire  for  freedom  that  gave  our  f athers_the 
courage  to  conquer.  Freedom  is  the  normal  aspi- 
ration of  man,  and  the  record  of  human  progress 
is  the  record  of  the  achievements  of  those  who  are 
striving  to  be  free. 

After  a  century  and  a  half  of  struggle  and 
growth,  the  settlements  of  Englishmen  along  our 
Atlantic  coast  united  to  form  the  American  nation. 
In  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  federal 
and  state  constitutions,  and  the  ordinance  gov- 
erning the  Northwest  Territory,  the  fundamental 
principles  of  American  democracy  were  established. 
/These  are,  in  brief,  four  :  — 

First,  that  every  man  should  stand  on  his  own 
merits,  and  not  be  dependent  for  political  rights 
or  privileges  on  the  rank  or  merit  of  his  father  or 
any  one  else ; 

Second,  that  every  normal  man  should  have  the 
right  to  participate  in  government ; 

Third,  that  all  men  should  have  equal  opportu- 
nities to  attain  to  positions  of  power  and  influence 
in  political  society ;  and, 

Fouj^th,  that  every  child  should  have  a  chance  to 
get  an  education. 

To  be  sure,  these  principles  were  not  perfectly 
worked  out  or  universally  applied  at  first,  but,  in 
a  broad  sense,  they  form  the  foundation  of  Ameri- 


DEMOCRACY   AND   CITY   LIFE   IN    AMERICA 

can  political  institutions.     Freedom  is  the  purpose 
of  our  national  life. 

It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that  America  has  for 
more  than  a  century  stood  for  something  definite 
and  noble  among  the  nations,  and  that  the  dreamers 
of  every  land  have  looked  to  us  for  the  realiza- 
tion of  TITeir  ideals.  We  have  ourselves  all  along 
acknowledged  our  peculiar  destiny  and  have  gloried 
in  it.  We  have  welcomed  the  children  of  the 
world  who  have  fled  to  us  to  escape  from  oppres- 
sion and  find  freedom,  but  have  nevertheless  feared 
that  these  same  multitudes,  untrained  for  democ- 
racy, attaining  freedom  too  easily  by  our  gift,  would 
prove  dangerous  to  our  institutions  and  imperil 
our  national  destiny. 

The  real  character  of  our  national  mission  is  in- 
consistent with  mere  self-seeking.  Freedom,  de- 
mocracy, equality  of  rights,  all  speak  of  brotherhood 
and  cooperation  and  prophesy  that  human  nature, 
so  cruel  and  selfish  in  its  ancient  and  primitive 
manifestations,  is  being  changed  to  something  be- 
nevolent and  social.  Indeed,  the  progress  of  civil- 
ization and  the  constantly  increasing  dependence 
of  man  upon  his .  f ellQW-S^or  th^^^iecessities  and 
comforts  of  physical  and  inteljectual  .lif e Jbiao^ 
out-of-da.te  and  impossible  the  ultra-selfish  attri- 
butes of  human  nature  which  are  often  described 
as  unchangeable.  If  America  fails  in  her  splendid 
mission,  it  will  be  because  she  lets  herself  lapse 
into  a  mere  giant  nation  striving  for  mastery.  The 
supreme  issue  before  America  to-day  is  the  per- 

3 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

fection  of  democracy  and  the  holding  fast  by  that 
means  to  our  national  ideals  and  the  leadership  of 
the  world  in  the  struggle  for  human  freedom. 

The  conditions  of  life  in  the  United  States  a  hun- 
dred years  ago  were  favorable  to  the  success  of 
the  political  experiment  instituted  by  our  fathers. 
Practically  the  whole  nation  was  of  one  blood  and 
one  language,  with  common  traditions  and  politi- 
cal ideals  welded  into  unity  by  the  stern  experi- 
ences of  colonial  life.  Then,  too,  there  stretched 
out  before  the  new  nation  looking  off  to  the  west 
an  almost  boundless  continent,  with  unlimited  re- 
sources, only  waiting  to  respond  to  the  call  of  civili- 
zation. The  poorest  man  in  those  days,  if  he  had 
energy,  could  reach  out  his  strong  right  arm  and 
appropriate  to  his  own  uses  a  sufficient  part  of  the 
bounty  of  nature.  In  those  days,  too,  cities  were 
almost  unknown.  In  the  year  1800  there  was  no 
city  in  the  United  States  with  a  population  of 
70,000,  and  only  about  4  per  cent  of  the  total 
population  lived  in  cities  of  8000  or  more. 

The  great  progress  that  America  has  made  in 
population,  industry,  and  arts  since  the  beginning 
of  the  nineteenth  century  has  not  been  altogether 
favorable  to  our  political  experiment.  Two  or 
three  things  seem  to  be  essential  to  the  success  of 
democracy.  In  the  first  place,  the  great  body  of 
the  people  must  be  intelligent  and  have  a  large 
social  capacity,  which  means  that  they  must  be 
able  to  see  beyond  their  own  garden  fences  and 
be  able  to  cooperate  witb  other  men  of  considerably 

4 


DEMOCRACY  AND   CITY   LIFE   IN   AMERICA 

different  habits  and  ideals.  Then  there  must  be 
a  strong  interest  in  jnral  institnti«^Tis  in  that  part 
of  poHtical  life  which  affects  men  daily  in  and  near 
their  homes.^  And,  finally,  the  conditions  of  life 
must  be  such  that  men  can  give  a  considerable 
amount  of  time  and^thouj^ht^to-those  politicaLin- 
terests  in  regard  to  which  they  can  personally 
make  their  wills  felt. 

The  expansion  of  American  life,  through  its  en- 
couragement of  immigration,  has  had  a  marked  in- 
fluence upon  the  character  of  the  American  people. 
For   the_United   States   immigration  has^  Qn__the   |j 
whole,  tendedjtQ_jQwet-fcbe-average  of  intelligence  _,' 
and  particularly  to  diminish  the  social  capacity  of    \ 
the   communities.     Paris,  the   great   cosmopolitan  i] 
city  of  western  Europe,  has  only  about  one-twelfth 
of   its  population  foreign,  and  London  less  than 
one-thirtieth,  while  of  American  cities,  New  York 
has  more   than   four-fifths,  of   foreign   parentage, 
Chicago  and  San  Francisco  about  four-fifths,  and 
the   twenty   largest   cities   of    Massachusetts,   the 
commonwealth  in  which  America  takes  most  pride, 
about  two-thirds.     Some  of  our  great  agricultural 
commonwealths,  even,  are  almost  as  much  foreign 
as  American,  so  far  as  numbers  count  in  their  cit- 
izenship.    Minnesota  and  North  Dakota  both  have 
a  majority  of  males  of   voting  age   foreign  born. 

I  Perhaps  the  most  serious  feature  of  this  condition 
is  that  the  oM_Ameiican  stock  fails  to  multiply  a^^  I    > 
rapidly  as  the  newer  and  less  politically  experienced     >^C. 
race  stocks  do.     In  short,  America's  condition  i^      j\ 

5 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

analogous  to  that  of  a  club  originally  composed  of 
a  more  or  less  select  class  brought  together  by  a 
common  experience  and  a  common  intelligence  for 
the  furtherance  of  certain  great  ends,  but  later 
well-nigh  swamped  by  the  influx  of  strangers  with 
little  notion  of  the  original  purposes  of  the  club 
and  meagre  training  for  membership  in  it. 
I  The  second  great  requisite  for  the  success  of 
democracy,  namely,  a  strong  practical  interest  in 
flocal  institutions,  has  also  suffered  a  good  deal  from 
Ithe  industrial  expansion  of  the  last  century.  It  is 
-'of  the  nature  of  political  government  to  be  founded 
upon  place,  and  man  in  local  relations  is  most 
subject  to  political  control.  Country,  nation,  and 
state  are,  in  a  somewhat  loose  way,  interchangeable 
terms.  Men  must  have  a  footing  somewhere. 
They  cannot  get  off  the  earth,  and  it  is  in  this 
primitive  relation  to  land  and  locality  that  citizen- 
ship largely  consists.  But  the  development  of 
railways,  steamships,  telegraphs,  telephones,  and 
other  means  of  travel  and  communication  has 
given  men  a  certain  apparent,  though  partly  su- 
perficial, independence  of  locality.  Men  must  still 
have  places,  but  in  the  great  cities  they  are  piled 
up,  one  on  top  of  another;  or  they  have  two 
places,  one  for  business  and  one  for  home.  In  the 
latter  case,  political  boundary  lines  are  practically 
powerless,  and  men  readily  abandon  their  citizen- 
ship in  ward,  city,  or  even  commonwealth  at  the 
dictaJi0Bro£_non-political  .interests.  Furthermore, 
the  growing  habit  of  travel,  and  especially  of  a 

6 


DEMOCRACY  AND   CITY   LIFE   IN   AMERICA 

change  of  residence  during  the  heat  of  summer  or 
the  cold  of  winter,  tends  to  detach  men  from  local 
interests  and  render  them  unable  to  perform  po- 
litical functions.  This  fluidity  of  movement  is 
marked  among  the  well-to-do  and  the  intelligent,. 
so  that  the  normal  influence  of  these  classes  upon 
local  political  action  is  still  further  curtailed.  They 
are  enabled  to  escape  from  unwholesome  local  con- 
ditions which  it  is  the  business  of  political  cooper- 
ation to  remove  or  ameliorate. 

Socjetyis  being  reorganized  ^ccor^in^^tg  Jii-.. 
terests^rather  than  accoFHmg  to  place,_and  the 
pripjnples  of  this  reorganization  run  CQuntej_to. 
political  forms  and  habits.  If  this  movement  is 
to  go  on  indefinitely,  and  distance  be  annihilated 
and  space  ignored,  political  government  will  have 
to  develop  a  new  mode  of  control,  functional 
rather  than  local.  But  there  are  many  reasons 
to  believe  that  our  boasted  independence  of  space 
will,  in  the  long  run,  prove  a  costly  luxury,  and 
that  sooner  or  later  society  will  settle  down  again 
to  a  more  steadfast  life  in  which  local  interests 
will  again  assume  large  importance.  We  may 
expect,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  a  partial  return 
to  the  condition  under  which  democracy  thrives. 
Nevertheless,  the  world  can  never  again  be  the 
same  as  it  was  before  steam  and  electricity  were 
engaged  in  the  service  of  man,  and  one  of  the 
hardest  problems  for  democracy  to  face  is  the 
necessary  readjustment  of  political  habits  to  fit 
the  new  conditions. 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

By  far  the  most  serious  contribution  of  the 
nineteenth  century  to  the  difficulties  of  democracy 
has  been,  however,  the  appropriation  of  the  na- 
tion's resources  by  individuals  and  that  wonderful 
expansion  of  human  interests  which  have  put  men 
under  the  high  pressure  of  to-day,  so  that  they 
have  little  time  to  give  to  practical  political  efforts. 
In  cities  the  gossip  of  the  world  comes  buzzing  in 
our  ears  twice  a  day  at  least,  and  perhaps  through 
a  score  of  channels.  The  greater  a  man's  income, 
the  needier  he  is,  because  he  generally  wants  to 
live  beyond  it ;  the  faster  we  can  travel,  the  more 
time  it  takes,  for  we  go  far  and  often ;  the  shorter 
the  hours  of  labor,  the  busier  we  get,  for  leisure 
breeds  opportunity  for  action. 

Certainly  another  century  cannot  carry  on  the 
movement  of  the  last  with  accelerating  speed, 
without  actually  consuming  the  best  of  the  race. 
Let  us  hope  that  men  will  gradually  be  brought 
to  a  saner  and  steadier  life  by  the  relentless  re- 
sistance involved  in  the  cost  of  progress.  Even 
this  hope  offers  but  a  grim  satisfaction,  for  the 
discipline  will  of  necessity  be  severe.  The  most 
tragic  element  in  the  political  thought  of  our  time 
is,  perhaps,  the  conflict  between  the  realization 
of  democracy  both  as  a  means  to  and  by  means 
of  a  higher  citizenship,  animated  by  less  selfish 
motives,  and  gifted  with  a  new  sense  of  social 
obligation  and  social  privilege,  on  the  one  hand ; 
and  the  spirit  of  strife  that  becomes  more  fierce 
as  the  field  of  competition  broadens,  and  the  life 

8 


DEMOCRACY  AND   CITY   LIFE   IN   AMERICA 

of  the  world  is  fused,  on  the  other.  The  theory 
of  democracy  makes  optimists  of  us,  but  practical 
observation  of  the  movements  of  our  time  often 
tends  to  pessimism.  We  can  be  saved  by  democ- 
racy if  we  will  — but  will  we?  That  is  the  big 
question  of  to-day.  Its  answer  depends  on  whether 
or  not  enough  people  can  be  found  who  will  offer 
an  intelligent  resistance  to  the  extreme  tendencies 
of  the  age,  and  definitely  confine  themselves  to 
a  normal  life. 

All  the  forces  here  described  as  affecting  the 
conditions  of  life  in  a  way  unfavorable  to  democ- 
racy culuiinate  in  cities«  The  city  is,  indeed,  the 
visible  symbol  of  the  annihilation  of  distance,  and 
the  multiplication  of  interests. 

And  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  the  city  emphasizes 
locality  and  gives  opportunity  for  cooperation.  The 
city  is  the  point  where  the  resistance  of  space  to 
men's  efforts  is  focussed,  and,  consequently,  local 
interests  become  enormously  increased.  The  op- 
portunities, too,  for  formulating  the  popular  will 
are  greatly  enhanced  in  cities  by  proximity  of 
residence.  People  can  gather  in, mass  meetings 
on  a  few  hours'  notice,  public  opinion  can  find 
immediate  expression  in  the  press,  the  citizen  can 
bring  personal  pressure  to  bear  upon  "the  official 
without  delay.  The  danger  is  that  democracy 
will  be  paralyzed  by  its  opportunities.  True  local 
interests,  though  of  such  transcendent  importance 
to  the  community,  tend  to  go  by  default  so  far 
as  the  individual  is  concerned.      The  home  and 

9 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

the  neighborhood,  the  natural  primary  units  of 
local  organization,  are  weakened,  and  in  many 
cases  nearly  destroyed.  Home  life  is  little  more 
than  a  name  where  a  hundred  people,  often  of 
different  nationalities,  live  in  a  single  tenement 
house ;  and  what  is  left  of  the  neighborhood 
where  there  is  a  density  of  five  hundred  to  the 
acre  ?  Among  the  business  and  professional 
classes,  a  man's  friends  and  intimate  associates 
may  be  scattered  over  the  whole  city,  while  he 
scarcely  knows  his  next  door  neighbor's  name. 
It  is  among  working  people  and  the  poor  that 
local  interests  retain  their  importance  to  the  indi- 
vidual, and  partly  for  this  reason  democracy 
appeals  most  directly  and  most  safely  to  the 
masses. 

One  of  the  most  serious  developments  of  modern 
life,  from  the  standpoint  of  democracy,  has  been 
the  organization  of  industry  on  so  large  a  scale 
that,  in  cities,  only  an  insignificant  proportion  of 
the  people  are  working  for  themselves.  Under 
the  wage  and  salary  system  men  sell  their  working 
time  and  do  as  they  are  told  by  their  employers. 
This  tends  to  make  machines  of  men,  to  diminish 
their  ethical  responsibility,  to  set  up  a  fixed  and 
artificial  reward  for  labor  without  reference  to  its 
real  social  value.  A  man  is  paid  as  much  for 
doing  useless  or  positively  destructive  work  as 
for  useful  and  productive  labor.  Perhaps,  through 
the  organization  of  industry,  the  real  waste  and 
destruction  are  greatly  diminished,  but  at  any  rate 

lO 


DEMOCRACY  AND   CITY   LIFE   IN   AMERICA 

personal  responsibility  for  snaking  one's  work  so- 
cially useful  is  nearly  lost.  This  would  be  certainly 
fatal  to  democracy  and  the  future  development 
of  the  race  if  there  were  no  compensations,  —  for 
what  kind  of  a  citizen-sovereign  can  a  man  be  who, 
in  his  work,  by  which  he  maintains  life  and  sup- 
ports a  family,  becomes  a  mere  machine  and  does 
what  he  is  told,  asking  no  questions  and  incurring 
no  risks  ?  The  compensation  lies  in  the  fact  that 
the  organization  of  industry  by  the  division  of 
labor  necessitates  corporate  action  on  the  part  of 
the  employers.  The  corporation  is  merely  a  form 
of  cooperation  and  mgans  injhe  long  run  a  devel- 
opment of  social  capacity  and  ethical  responsibility 
in  groups.  Along  with  this  development  of  co- 
operative methods  among  men  of  wealth  and  em- 
ployers have  come  both  opportunity  and  necessity 
for  the  development  of  cooperation  among  wage- 
earners.  And  so  by  dint  of  working  together  in 
industrial  pursuits  men  may  acquire  a  greater 
capacity  for  political  cooperation.  The  shortening 
of  the  working  hours  at  least  offers  more  oppor- 
tunity for  the  development  of  other  than  mere 
bread-winning  interests.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
these  advantages  fully  compensate  for  the  loss 
involved  in  the  diminution  of  economic  indepen- 
dence^ but  at  any  rate  democracy  must  find  some 
way  to  adjust  itself  to  the  changed  conditions. 

.  This  problem  of  employer  and  employed  is 
rendered  more  difficult  by  the  fact  that  the  indus- 
trial world  is   divided  into  two  hostile   camps   of 

II 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

organized,  cooperating  forces,  and,  as  complete 
political  democracy  would  open  the  way  for  the 
absolute  victory  of  one  industrial  party  by  means 
of  the  machinery  of  government,  it  becomes  a 
matter  of  grave  importance  to  organized  capital  to 
hinder  the  political  organization  of  the  people 
along  democratic  lines.  And  so  we  have  the 
spectacle  of  a  free  people  hemmed  in  on  every 
hand  and  checked  at  every  step  by  barriers  erected 
at  the  instance  of  property.  Political  machines, 
so  called,  and  bosses  are  supported  by  contributions 
from  organized  capital,  senates  and  councils  are 
bought,  newspapers  are  subsidized,  and  many 
stumbling  blocks  are  put  in  the  way  of  a  free  for- 
mation of  public  opinion  and  a  free  expression  of  the 
public  will.  The  political  and  industrial  worlds  are 
so  intertwined  that  their  problems  must  be  solved 
together  or  at  least  in  close  relation  to  each  other. 
Here  also  the  city  holds  the  centre  of  the  stage. 

The  founders  of  the  American  government  were 
not  wholly  confident  of  the  ultimate  wisdom  and 
reliability  of  the  people,  and  it  is  certain  that  the 
doubts  and  hesitation  of  those  revered  statesmen 
would  have  been  transformed  into  utter  dismay  if 
the  vistas  of  the  future  could  have  opened  and  re- 
vealed the  teeming  cities  of  our  time,  rich  and 
splendid  as  Babylon,  but  filled  with  a  motley  citi- 
zenship recruited  from  all  the  nations  of  the  world. 
What  would  Washington  have  thought  as  he  took 
the  oath  of  office  as  first  President  of  the  United 
States,  could  he  have  known  that  in  the  early  years 

12 


DEMOCRACY  AND   CITY   LIFE   IN   AMERICA 

of  the  twentieth  century,  on  the  island  of  Man- 
hattan and  around  it,  the  second  city  of  the  world 
would  deliberately  vote  in  support  of  the  theory 
that  government  is  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
govern  ?  Even  Jefferson,  the  spokesman  and 
almost  the  author  of  American  democracy,  must 
have  lost  his  faith  could  he  have  foreseen  the  cities 
of  New  England  swarming  as  they  now  are  with 
untrained  alien  races,  and  Philadelphia,  FrankHn's 
city  and  the  city  of  the"  Declaration,  stolidly  sub- 
mitting to  the  band  of  pirates  who  have  cast  its 
municipal  institutions  into  the  quicksands  of  cor- 
ruption. 

It  is  fitting  that  in  the  study  of  city  conditions 
and  municipal  government  in  the  United  States  we 
should  strive  to  comprehend  the  relation  existing 
between  democracy  and  this  marvellous  phenom- 
enon, the  city,  looming  so  large  upon  our  horizon 
and  dominating  more  and  more  our  whole  political, 
industrial,  and  social  life.  Democracy  has  not  been 
fully  tested,  and  its  record  of  achievement  is  such 
that  we,  of  modern  days,  believe  its  ultimate  failure 
would  mean  the  failure  of  progress  itself.  To  us 
the  right  of  every  man  to  count  for  what  he  is 
really  worth  has  come  to  be  an  essential  part  of  the 
justification  of  life.  We  look  upon  the  egregious 
blunders  of  our  cities  and  listen  to  Mr.  Bryce's  oft- 
repeated  dictum  about  the  *'  one  conspicuous  fail- 
ure "  among  our  institutions,  and  still  maintain  that 
what  we  need  is  not  less  democracy  but  more. 

We  see  that  the  experiment  of  democracy  must 
13 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

,  be  begun  over  again  under  the  changed  conditions 
"p^  of  industrial  and  social  life,  and  that  in  the  new 
experiment  cities  must  take  the  lead.  That  thus 
far  democracy  has  failed  to  justify  itself  in  the 
cities  of  America  is  commonly  believed.  Yet  cities 
are  in  the  nature  of  the  case  the  richest  field  for 
democracy,  and  in  them  the  principle  of  political 
cooperation  may  be  carried  furthest.  .  If  the  people 
prove  themselves  worthy  of  political  power,  mu- 
nicipal institutions  will  surely  lead  the  van  in  the 
political  progress  of  the  world. 

Not  only  is  the  city  involved  most  deeply  in  the 
great  political  experiment  of  the  present  and  the 
future,  but  it  is  the  dominating  element  in  that 
experiment.  The  United  States,  along  with  the 
other  nations  of  the  western  world,  is  rapidly 
coming  to  be  a  nation  of  cities,  and  even  while  the 
majority  of  the  American  people  remain  rural,  so 
far  as  residence  is  concerned,  the  influence  of  the 
cities  upon  the  national  life  is  quite  out  of  propor- 
tion to  their  population.  For  the  city  is  the  dis- 
tributing centre  of  intelligence  as  well  as  of  goods. 
<  The  city  stands  for  organization.  It  is  the  centre 
*  of  the  complex  web  of  national  life.  To  it  all 
roads  lead,  and  more  and  more  it  deals  with 
countrymen  as  individuals.  The  introduction  into 
the  post-office  of  rural  free  delivery,  the  develop- 
ment of  systems  of  trolley  lines  focussing  in  the 
cities,  the  expansion  of  the  mail  order  business, 
the  concentration  of  the  publishing  interests,  —  all 
these  are  putting  the  city  into  direct  and  dominat- 

14 


DEMOCRACY  AND   CITY   LIFE   IN   AMERICA 

ing  relations  with  country  people,  and  making  the 
country  essentially  suburban.  This  form  of  urban 
imperialism  follows^the  adage  of  war,  "  Divide  and 
conquer."  The  city  becomes  dominant  in  essen- 
tially the  same  way  as  a  great  employer  of  labor- 
who  deals  with  his  men  individually. 

Besides  all  this,  the  city  attracts  to  itself  as  the 
visible  centre  of  wealth  and  power  the  leaders  in 
every  department  of  life.  By  the  splendor  of  its 
luxuries,  made  possible  by  cooperation  on  so  large 
a  scale,  it  attracts  to  itself  imaginative  youth. 
It  is  true,  of  course,  that  during  this  age  of  rapidly 
growing  cities,  it  is  people  of  rural  origin  who 
build  up  the  town  and  control  its  activities,  and  in 
this  sense  the  country  rules  the  city.  But  in  city 
life  there  is  one  all-dominating  condition  that  trans- 
forms men  as  if  by  magic.  This  condition  is  scarcity 
of  room,  which  gives  rise  in  an  old  city  to  a  deacT 
congestion  and  in  a  new  city  to  a  fierce  jostle. 
The  newcomers  are  one  by  one  absorbed  and  trans- 
formed into  city  men.  While  there  is  little  diffi- 
culty in  making  city  men  out  of  countrymen,  it 
seems  well-nigh  impossible  to  reverse  the  process. 
Working  men  in  cities  become  used  to  working 
under  orders,  and  in  a  measure  lose  the  faculty  of 
self-direction  and  adaptation  to  the  conditions  of 
agricultural  work.  But,  even  more  important  than 
this,  they  and  their  families  form  the  city  habit 
and  find  themselves  quite  lost  if  thrust  upon 
their  own  resources  in  the  country,  where  there  is 
no  music  of  the  pavement  and  no  jostling  of  the 

15 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

crowd.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who  get  their 
living  by  their  wits  and  go  well  dressed,  soon  lose 
the  capacity  for  the  work  of  the  hands  by  which 
countrymen  live.  Two  difficulties  lie  in  the  way 
of  their  ever  going  back  to  the  country  to  earn 
their  liveHhood.  They  are  physically  incapaci- 
tated, and  their  wants  have  been  so  much  devel- 
oped that  they  could  not  be  satisfied  by  the  earnings 
of  hand  labor.  City  people  in  countless  numbers, 
doubtless,  envy  countrymen  their  imaginary  lot, 
and  are  greatly  delighted  of  a  summer,  if  their 
finances  will  permit,  to  visit  the  country  and  even 
play  at  farming,  but  they  do  not  know  how  to 
work  there  and  do  not  care  to  learn.  Perhaps  the 
extreme  apparent  inability  of  city  people  to  be  re- 
transformed  into  country  folk  is  partly  due  to  the 
direction  of  the  current  which  sets  so  strongly 
toward  the  city  in  this  age.  But  there  are  many 
reasons  to  believe  that  cities  consume  and  will 
continue  to  consume  the  population  that  pours  into 
them  from  every  direction.^ 

Two  noteworthy  books  dealing  with  the  prob- 

1  Some  of  the  striking  characteristics  of  metropolitan  life  are 
described  with  force,  insight,  and  wit  by  Dr.  J.  H.  Girdner  in  his 
little  book  entitled  New  Yorkitis,  He  says,  page  i8,  "  It  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  New  York  is  a  huge  mill,  into  the  hopper 
of  which  is  annually  thrown  raw  material  in  the  form  of  brain, 
brawn,  money,  and  character  drawn  from  the  outside  world,  and 
the  ground-out  product  of  this  mill  is  the  metropolis,  with  all  that 
the  term  means;  and  if  the  supply  of  raw  material  were  discon- 
tinued, the  mill  would  in  time  cease  to  turn  out  the  finished 
product." 

i6 


DEMOCRACY  AND   CITY   LIFE   IN   AMERICA 

lems  of  the  city  appeared  from  the  American  press 
four  or  five  years  ago.  One  is  The  Twentieth 
Century  City,  by  Josiah  Strong.  Mr.  Strong  shows 
a  keen  appreciation  of  the  fundamentally  ethical 
nature  of  the  question.  With  great  clearness  he 
sets  forth  the  industrial  and  social  causes  that 
have  given  us  the  city  problem.  In  his  view  the 
same  forces  that  have  already  driven  more  than 
one-third  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  into 
cities  will  continue  to  operate  until  within  a  score 
of  years  the  cities  will  have  absorbed  more  than  -. 
one-half  of  our  entire, population,  an d  u Itimately 
we  shall  come  to  be  "  a  nation  of  cities."  In  his 
view  ma,terialism  dominates  American  life^  and^ 
shows  itself  strongest  in  the  centres  of  .ciyjUzatiom 
^d  wealth.  Indeed,  the  material  progress  of  our 
cities  has  entirely  outstripped  their  moral  and  in- 
tellectual progress,  so  that  the  larger  the  city  the 
more  menacing  are  the  conditions  of  its  munici- 
pal life.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  the  city  itself 
and  the  nation  at  large  have  been  tending  rapidly 
toward  a  condition  in  which,  with  the  city  dominat- 
ing the  nation  and  the  grossest  forms  of  materialism 
dominating  the  city,  free  institutions  must  perish 
and  democracy  prove  an  abject  failure  in  America. 
But  Mr.  Strong  paints  this  picture  as  a  warning 
to  the  American  people,  and  points  out  a  remedy 
by  which  this  national  disaster  can  be  averted. 
The  proposed  remedy  is  no  other  than  the  develop- 
ment of  a  new  patriotism  through  the  quickening 
of  the  sociaj^conscience  and  the  practical  applica- 
c  17 


THE   AMERICAN  <:iTY 

tion  of  the  teachings  of  Christ.  The  law  of  service, 
the  law  of  sacrifice,  and  the  law  of  love  must 
transform  men  and  give  them  new  social  ideals. 
The  other  book  referred  to  is  The  Growth  of 
Cities,  by  Mr.  Adna  F.  Weber.  Mr.  Weber's 
book  is  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  statistics  of 
city  growth,  and  reveals  a  remarkable  world-wide 
tendency  toward  concentration  under  the  stimulus 
of  the  new  industrial  conditions  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  It  appears  that  the  larger  the  city  the 
more  rapidly  it  grows,  and  Mr.  Weber  agrees  with 
Mr.  Strong  in  expecting  that  this  tendency  of 
population  to  mass  itself  in  cities  will  continue  until 
two-thirds  of  our  population  is  distinctly  urban. 
Taking  the  view  that  the  world-wide  movement 
toward  the  city  is  a  permanent  one,  Mr.  Weber 
examines  with  some  care  the  damaging  charges 
that  have  so  often  been  made  against  the  general 
social  effects  of  city  life.  One  by  one,  he  takes 
up  our  supposed  causes  for  alarm,  and  looks  at 
them  from  the  standpoint  of  the  unworried  philos- 
opher. One  by  one,  as  he  touches  them  with  the 
wand  of  statistics,  all  the  moral  and  social  diffi- 
culties attendant  upon  our  transformation  into  a 
nation  of  cities  disappear.  On  the  whole,  in  his 
opinion,  the  inevitable  prospect  is  to  be  welcomed 
rather  than  viewed  with  alarm,  and  none  of  the 
leading  indictments  brought  against  city  life  are 
substantiated  by  statistical  records.^ 

1  See  Mr.  Weber's  chapter  on  "  The  Physical  and  Moral  Health 
of  City  and  Country,"  pp.  368-409. 

18 


DEMOCRACY  AND   CITY   LIFE   IN   AMERICA 

These  two  views  of  municipal  imperialism  are 
extremely  interesting  and  suggestive.  It  seems 
probable  that  neither  author  has  measured  the 
increasing  force  of  the  resistance  which_tliejnioye- 
ment  toward  concentration  jnust^  inevitably  meet. 
The  earth  levies  a  tax  upon  a  city/ and  the  larger 
the  city  the  higher  the  tax.  The  cost  of  trans- 
portation and  standing-room  will  at  a  certain  point 
more  than  balance  the  economies  of  concentration, 
and  then  city  growth  must  at  least  be  less  rapid 
than  it  has  been  during  recent  times.  Conse- 
quently, there  is  considerable  reason  for  thinking 
that  the  large  cities  will  not  soon,  if  ever,  contain 
an  actual  majority  of  our  population.  So  perhaps 
it  is  possible  for  us  to  discount,  to  a  certain  extent, 
the  desperate  straits  that  Mr.  Strong  sees  us  in 
with  only  twenty  years  in  which  to  save  ourselves 
from  hopeless  national  ruin  by  the  transformation 
of  a  criminally  selfish  citizenship  into  one  that 
obeys  the  laws  of  Christ,  and  also  possible  for  us, 
without  discarding  our  philosophic  faith  in  the  ulti- 
mate salvation  of  society,  to  discount  to  a  certain 
extent  the  equanimity  with  which  Mr.  Weber  views 
the  conditions  of  city  life.  Nevertheless,  we  must 
admit  that  for  practical  purposes  Mr.  Strong  is 
fundamentally  right.  Even  if  the  cities  do  not 
contain  an  actual  majority  of  the  population,  their 
influence  upon  social  ideals  is  likely  to  become 
more  and  more  powerful  and  far-reaching,  and 
the  city  presents  for  itself  and  for  the  nation  a 
problem,  the  only  adequate  solution  of  which  must 

19 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

be  found  in  a  combined  civic  intelligence  and  civic 
conscience  so  far  removed  from  the  spirit  now 
dominating  municipal  politics  that  it  may  be  said 
to  involve  a  radical  change  in  human  nature  or  in 
the  conditions  under  which  human  nature  finds 
expression.  For  one  who  has  felt  the  thrilling 
torture  of  a  transformation  from  rural  or  village 
Ufe  to  the  life  of  a  metropolis  like  New  York 
or  Chicago,  it  would  require  more  figures  than 
Mr.  Weber  has  marshalled  to  prove  that  the  city 
is  all  right.  Yet  T/ie  Growth  of  Cities  is  an  emi- 
nently sane  book  which,  in  Emerson's  phrase,  says 
to  the  prophet  of  evil  and  the  overweening  re- 
former, **  Why  so  hot,  my  little  sir  }  " 

It  has  been  one  of  the  loudest  complaints  of 
municipal  reformers  that  the  welfare  of  the  city 
has  been  and  still  is  prostituted  to  the  interests 
of  national  political  parties.  Through  this  subordi- 
nation and  neglect  of  distinctly  city  politics,  mu- 
nicipal problems  have  been  accumulating  on  our 
hands  until  their  number  is  legion  and  their  mass 
mountainous.  In  recent  years  they  have  begun  to 
compel  more  than  local  attention,  and  there  are 
not  wanting  indications  that  the  time  may  come 
when,  instead  of  being  prostituted  to  national  party 
interests,  municipal  issues  will  take  their  turn  at 
domination  and  themselves  determine  the  lines 
along  which  national  political  struggles  will  be 
fought.  In  that  case  we  should  have  the  city 
problem,  rather  than  the  city  population,  dominat- 
ing the  politics  of  the  country. 

20 


DEMOCRACY  AND  CITY  LIFE   IN   AMERICA 

There  are  many  reasons  why  the  city  problem  is 
assuming  national  proportions.  Several  of  these 
h^:^"  already  been  indicatecJT  First,  democracy, 
the  tool  with  which  we  are  cultivating  human 
nature  in  America,  has  been  badly  damaged  by  its 
contact  with  city  conditions.  We  must  attend  to 
our  tool,  repair  it,  and  perfect  it,  or  find  ourselves 
suddenly  set  back  into  political  barbarism  doing 
hand-labor  only.  Secondly,  the  city,  as  the  centre 
of  civihzation  and  the  distributing  centre  of  the 
nation's  intelligence,  tends  to  impose  its  ethical 
and  social  ideals  upon  the  whole  people  irrespec- 
tive of  residence.  Thirdly,  as  the  accumulation  of 
enormous  wealth  in  the  hands  of  one  man  without 
a  corresponding  responsibility  for  its  use  with 
reference  to  social  welfare,  is  a  positive  menace  to 
the  general  well-being,  so  the  concentration  of 
wealth  in  a  single  city,  without  a  clear  recognition 
on  its  part  of  its  duty  to  the  state,  becomes  danger- 
ous to  the  public  weal.  It  is  the  tendency  of  a 
great  accumulation  of  wealth  to  levy  tribute  upon 
industry,  and,  through  its  dominating  power,  to  re- 
duce poor  men  and  men  of  moderate  means  to  a 
condition  of  economic  dependence.  So  the  growth 
of  cities,  with  their  enormous  and  disproportionate 
wealth,  unless  their  public  policy  subserves  the  in- 
terest of  the  state  at  large,  will  in  the  long  run 
destroy  the  independence  of  agriculture,  and  make 
the  life  of  the  tiller  of  the  soil  even  more  hopeless 
than  that  of  the  city  workingman.  This  prodigy 
of  which  we  boast,  our  civilization,  reaches  out  to 

21 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

the  remotest  townships,  and  levies  tribute  upon  the 
backwoodsman  even. 

Under  our  present  system  of  government,  in 
most  of  the  states  of  the  Union,  the  legislatures, 
composed  largely  of  rural  representatives,  have  the 
responsibility  for  organizing  the  political  mechan- 
ism through  which  the  cities  are  governed.  It 
needs  close  attention  to  the  municipal  problem  to 
show  the  countryman  this,  even,  that  the  safest 
way  to  protect  his  own  interests  from  the  evils  of 
domination  by  bad  cities,  is  to  throw  these  cities 
upon  their  own  political  responsibility,  perfect 
democracy  in  them,  and  make  himself  effective 
allies  of  the  masses  of  the  city  people,  who  suffer 
as  he  does  from  the  imperiaHsm  of  concentrated 
wealth.  The  city  problem  is  a  national  problem, 
and  there  is  no  excuse  for  indifference  in  regard  to 
it  on  the  part  of  any  citizen.  In  its  broadest  terms, 
it  presents  the  simple  questions  :  Shall  the  city  be 
permitted  to  destroy  democracy  and  thereby  under- 
mine our  national  institutions  .''  Shall  the  city  be 
permitted  to  absorb  the  brains  and  wealth  of  the 
nation  and  consume  them  wastefully } 

We  must  not,  however,  overemphasize  the 
national  aspect  of  the  case,  or  what  may  be  called 
the  external  problem  of  the  city  ;  for,  in  accordance 
with  the  genius  of  our  institutions,  the  city  must 
face  and  solve  its  own  problem  for  its  own  sake 
and  for  the  nation's  sake.  What,  then,  is  the  city 
problem  from  the  standpoint  of  the  city  itself? 
What  must  the  citizen  of  the  city  set  out  to  do  ? 

22       ^ 


DEMOCRACY  AND   CITY   LIFE   IN   AMERICA 

Or,  in  other  words,  what  is  the  function  of  mu- 
nicipal government,  the  institution  through  which 
the  citizens  of  a  city  combine  to  carry  out  their 
ideas  of  what  their  city  should  be  made  to  be  ? 

Walt  Whitman,  who,  more  than  any  other 
American  writer,  stands  for  boundless  faith  in  the 
masses  of  men  under  democratic  institutions,  and 
whose  ideals  of  life  are  coming  to  have  a  deeper 
and  deeper  influence  among  his  countrymen,  saw 
with  the  instinct  of  genius  the  main  outlines  of  the 
city  problem.  Away  back  in  September,  1870,  he 
wrote :  — 

"  After  an  absence,  I  am  now  again  in  New 
York  City  and  Brooklyn,  on  a  few  weeks'  vacation. 
The  splendor,  picturesqueness,  and  oceanic  ampli- 
tude and  rush  of  these  great  cities,  the  unsurpassed 
situation,  rivers  and  bay,  sparkling  sea  tides,  costly 
and  lofty  new  buildings,  fa(^ades  of  marble  and 
iron,  of  original  grandeur  and  elegance  of  design, 
with  the  masses  of  gay  color,  the  preponderance  of 
white  and  blue,  the  flags  flying,  the  endless  ships, 
the  tumultuous  streets,  Broadway,  the  heavy,  low, 
musical  roar,  hardly  ever  intermitted,  even  at 
night,  the  jobbers'  houses,  the  rich  shops,  the 
wharves,  the  great  Central  Park,  and  the  Brooklyn 
Park  of  hills,  the  assemblages  of  the  citizens  in 
their  groups,  conversations,  trades,  evening  amuse- 
ments, or  along  the  by  quarters,  —  these,  I  say,  and 
the  Jike  of  these,  completely^satisf y  my  senses  of 
power,  fulness,  motion,  etc.,  and  give  me,  through 
~^such  senses  and  appetites,  and  through  my  aesthetic 

23 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

conscience,  a  continued  exaltation  and   absolute 
fulfilment.  .  .  . 

"But,  sternly  discarding,  shutting  our  eyes  to 
the  glow  and  grandeur  of  the  general  superficial 
effect,  coming  down  to  what  is  of  the  only  real  im- 
portance, personalities,  and  examining  minutely,  we 
question,  we  ask,  are  there,  indeed,  men  here  worthy 
the  name  ?  Are  there  athletes  ?  Are  there  perfect 
women  to  match  the  generous  material  luxuriance  ? 
Is  there  a  pervading  atmosphere  of  beautiful  man- 
ners? Are  there  crops  of  fine  youths  and  majestic 
old  persons  ?  Are  there  arts  worthy  freedom  and 
a  rich  people?  Is  there  a  great  moral  and  religious 
civilization  —  the  only  justification  of  a  great  mate- 
rial one  ?  Confess  that  to  severe  eyes,  using  the 
moral  microscope  upon  humanity,  a  sort  of  dry 
and  flat  Sahara  appears,  these  cities  crowded  with 
petty  grotesques,  malformations,  phantoms,  playing 
meaningless  antics.  Confess  that  everywhere,  in 
shop,  street,  church,  theatre,  bar  room,  official  chair, 
are  pervading  flippancy  and  vulgarity,  low  cunning, 
infidelity  —  everywhere  the  youth  puny,  impudent, 
foppish,  prematurely  ripe  —  everywhere  an  abnor- 
mal libidinousness,  unhealthy  forms,  male,  female, 
painted,  padded,  dyed,  chignon'd,  muddy  complex- 
ions, bad  blood,  the  capacity  for  good  motherhood 
deceasing  or  deceas'd,  shallow  notions  of  beauty, 
with  a  range  of  manners,  or  rather  lack  of  manners, 
(considering  the  advantages  enjoy'd,)  probably  the 
meanest  to  be  seen  in  the  world."  ^ 

1  Walt  Whitman,  Prose  Worksy  p.  21 1. 
24 


DEMOCRACY  AND   CITY   LIFE   IN   AMERICA 

The  problem  is  still  the  same,  as  a  recent  writer 
in  one  of  the  metropolitan  dailies  has  indicated. 
"  Some  time  ago,"  he  writes,  "  a  Western  friend 
said  to  me :  *  Your  New  York  will  soon  be  a 
place  of  hotel^ j]ieLati:aSv.stQ3:Qa^.,ba.DkSy.  ..pakaes,  / 
railroad  stations,  museums^jSllUEches^enemen^ 
fiats',"  ctubsT  gambling^  hous£S.^-aiid  worgg.--  It  is 
magnificent,  but  hideous.'  Nowhere  in  this  com- 
pretlensiv(!i  lllit  0(icurs  the  word  '  homes.'  And  the 
lack  of  homes  is  the  first  penalty  that  New  York 
is  paying  for  its  greatness."  ^ 

In  these  contrasts  we  get  a  view  of  the  peril  of 
city  life  in  America.  What  civic  spirit  there  has 
been  heretofore  has,  for  the  most  part,  conceived  of 
the  city  problem  after  this  simple  fashion  :  "  What 
can  we  do  to  induce  more  factories  to  locate  here, 
and  bring  more  people  to  buy  our  goods  and  our 
city  lots .'' "  Number  of  residents  and  volume  of 
business  have  been  considered  the  criteria  of  mu- 
nicipal success,  and  the  enterprising  and  "  public- 
spirited  "  ^citizen  Jias  seldom  apj)lied  his  brain_or 
put  his  hand^  municipal  affairs  save  with  this 
idea  in  mind.  But  with  tfie^TityTKrown  upoii'lt's 
own  resources,  and  given  full  power  and  responsi- 
bility for  the  solution  of  its  own  problems  under  a 
democratic  form  of  government,  this  conception  of 
the  ideal  of  civic  progress  will  inevitably  undergo 
a  radical  change ;  for  the  great  masses  of  people 
in   all   of   our   great  cities  are   beginning  to  cry 

1  Frank  Tucker  in  the  New  York  Herald,  February  i6,  1902. 
25 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

out  for  conditions  of  life  that  will  make  freedom 
possible. 

Occasionally  we  hear  a  voice  raised  in  behalf  of  a 
higher  ideal  for  cities  than  that  they  should  be  a 
dumping-ground  for  people  and  riches.  "The 
ideal  city,"  said  Benjamin  Harrison,  "  must  be  a 
city  where  people  diligently  mind  their  own  busi- 
ness, and  the  public  business,  and  do  both  with  a 
decent  regard  to  the  judgment  and  the  rights  of 
other  men ;  a  city  where  there  is  no  boss  rule  in 
anything;  where  all  men  are  not  brought  to  the 
measure  of  one  man's  mind,  or  to  the  heel  of  one 
man's  will;  a  city  where  citizens  are  true  and 
brave  and  generous,  and  who  care  for  their  own  ; 
a  city  having  a  community  spirit  but  not  the  com- 
munistic spirit,  where  capital  is  respected,  but  has 
no  temples ;  a  city  whose  people  live  in  homes 
where  there  is  room  for  a  morning-glory  or  a  sweet 
pea ;  where  fresh  air  is  not  delivered  in  pint  cups ; 
where  the  children  can  every  day  feel  the  spring  of 
nature's  green  carpet;  where  people  are  not  so 
numerous  as  to  suggest  that  decimation  might  pro- 
mote general  welfare ;  where  brains  and  manners, 
and  not  bank-ratings,  give  standing  to  men  ;  where 
there  is  neither  flaunting  wealth  nor  envious 
poverty  ;  where  Hfe  is  comfortable  and  toil  honor- 
able ;  where  municipal  reformers  are  not  hysterical, 
but  have  the  habit  of  keeping  cool ;  where  the  broad 
judgment  of  a  capital,  and  not  the  narrowness  of  a 
province,  prevails ;  where  the  commerce  in  goods  is 
great,  but  not  greater  than  the  exchanges  of  thought 

26 


DEMOCRACY  AND   CITY   LIFE   IN   AMERICA 

and  neighborly  kindness.  We  have  not  realized 
all  these  things.  We  count  not  ourselves  to  have 
attained,  but  we  follow  after."  ^ 

There  are  numerous  conditions  naturally  arising  \ 
from  the  crowding  of  men  in  cities  wEicH^tenH*  to  n 
ljny[i|;  jii^man  f^pportuHitles  jof  seu-devciopment.  \\ 
It  is  the  purpose  of  democracy  to  make  tree  men  ^ 
in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word.  It  is  the  problem 
of  the  American  city,  by  means  of  democracy,  to 
assess  equitably  the  tax  that  'nature  levies  for  the 
benefits  of  city  life  upon  those  benefits,  to  the  end 
that  the  city  may  fulfil  its  mission  as  the  centre  of 
a  robust,  clean,  beautiful  civilization,  into  which 
the  nation's  life  may  pour  without  danger  of  cor- 
ruption. In  its  more  immediate  and  practical 
aspect,  the  problem  of  the  American  city  is  to 
make  itself  a  place  fit  for  men,  women,  and  children 
to  live  in.  It  is  my  purpose  in  the  succeeding 
chapters  of  this  book  to  present  to  the  reader  the 
various  phases  of  this  great  American  city  problem 
as  it  is  working  itself  out  in  the  varied  functions  of 
city  government,  in  the  political  organization  of 
municipal  democracy,  and  in  the  relations  which 
bind  the  city  to  the  state  at  large. 

1  Quoted  in  California  Municipalities,  April,  1 901,  p.  85. 


27 


CHAPTER   11 

THE  STREET 

The  problems  of  the  street  are  the  first,  the 
last,  and  the  greatest  of  the  material  problems  of 
the  city.  It  is  the  street  that  makes  the  city  pos- 
sible to  begin  with,  that  permits  the  city's  growth  I 
year  by  year,  and  that  finally  must  cheek  the  in-' 
crease  of  population  and  business  by  sheer  inabil- 
ity to  provide  opportunity  for  movement.  In  the 
street  we  have  the  first  and  the  best  example  of 
the  purposes  of  city  government.  Here,  by  the 
cooperation  of  the  whole  community,  a  free  way 
is  provided,  an  ''open  road,"  a  channel  for  traffic 
and  transportation  for  the  use  of  all  alike.  It  is 
seldom  realized  how  large  a  share  of  municipal 
activity  is  carried  on  in  the  street.  Besides  the 
work  of  making  and  improving  the  street  itself, 
besides  the  work  attendant  upon  the  service  of 
public  utilities  upon,  over,  and  under  the  street, 
we  must  remember  that  the  police  department 
is  mainly  a  street  department,  and  that  the  fire 
department  is  absolutely  dependent  upon  the 
street  for  its  efficiency.  The  street  is  the  sym- 
bol of  the  free  city  wherein  all  cooperate  to  se- 
cure opportunity  for  all.  Democracy  as  a  means 
to  liberty  and  as  a  method  of  law  finds  its  expres- 

28 


THE  strep:t 

sion  in  the  street.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  cur- 
tailment of  the  people's  rights  in  the  street  through 
the  grant  of  special  privileges  to  individuals  and 
corporations  is  widely  regarded  as  a  menace  to 
"popular  institutions  and  a  step  toward  the  over- 
throw of  the  principles  of  free  government.  The 
control  of  the  streets  means  the  control  of  the  city. 

The  general  plan  of  the  streets  of  a  city  is  im-  i 
portant  because  it  is  the  basis  for  the  organization 
of  the  city's  transportation  systems.  The  width 
of  the  streets  is  even  more  important.  The  main 
difficulty  in  respect  to  both  these  matters  Hes  in 
our  inability  to  foresee  and  make  provision  for  the 
future. 

The  lower  part  of  Manhattan  Island  is  the  busi- 
ness centre  of  a  metropolitan  community  of  nearly 
five  million  people.  And  yet  if  skyscrapers  were 
built  everywhere  that  buildings  now  stand  in  the 
district  below  Fourteenth  Street,  office  room  could 
be  provided  for  four  or  five  times  the  amount  of 
business  now  conducted  there.  New  York  streets, 
so  aptly  called  "city  canons,"  simply  could  not 
accommodate  the  traffic  that  would  be  involved  in 
this  multiplication  of  business.  Yet  New  York, 
after  years  of  congestion,  with  its  army  of  busi- 
ness men  and  clerks  strugghng  daily  under  almost 
inhuman  conditions  to  get  to  work  in  the  morning 
and  to  get  home  again  at  night,  is  at  last  building 
a  subway  at  enormous  expense,  expecting  relief. 
It  is  like  sweeping  back  the  ocean  with  the  kitchen 
broom.     The  subway  will  be  crowded  almost  in- 

29 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

stantly,  and  New  York  will  scarcely  be  better  off 
with  it  than  she  was  ten  years  ago  without  it.  It 
has  even  been  suggested  that  the  metropolis  be 
provided  with  streets  of  several  stories,  —  tunnels 
underneath  for  rapid  transit,  sub-tunnels  for  rail- 
road traffic,  truckways  on  the  surface  for  ordinary 
vehicles  and  trolley  cars,  elevated  roadways  for 
passenger  cars  as  at  present,  and  footways  on  the 
first  terrace  of  buildings.  Unless  some  unlooked- 
for  turn  in  human  affairs  should  come  soon,  New 
York  will  go  on  building  bridges  and  digging  tun- 
nels at  enormous  cost,  charged  up  to  a  future 
likely  to  be  even  more  overburdened  than  the 
present.  The  facilities  for  transportation  will  be 
constantly  crowded  by  the  demands  of  travel  and 
traffic,  and  no  matter  if  the  city  makes  an  ant-hill 
of  itself,  that  will  bring  no  real  relief  from  the  ex- 
isting conditions.  Population  and  business  have 
got  a  long  start  of  the  city's  plan,  and  the  unequal 
race  will  continue  till  the  sheer  expensiveness  of 
the  necessary  readjustments  impoverishes  even 
New  York,  although  she  levies  tribute  on  the 
industries  of  the  whole  Republic. 

Probably  few  of  our  cities  will  have  attained  the 
magnitude  of  New  York  in  another  century.  Still, 
we  have  sixty-two  cities  as  large  as  New  York  was 
a  hundred  years  ago,  and  if  we  are  to  accept  the 
prognostications  of  the  publicists,  what  may  we 
not  expect  by  the  year  2000  ?  Certainly  not  the 
millennium,  unless  great  preparations  for  it  are 
begun  at  once.     The  case  of  New  York  simply 

30" 


THE   STREET  ^ 

illustrates  in  a  somewhat  exaggerated  way  the  fate 
of  big  cities  that  are  not  prepared  for  their  own 
growth.  When  once  the  wealth  created  by^  the 
urban  development  in  its  earlier  years  has  been 
appropriated  to  private  purses,  and  the  community 
left  in  arrears  so  far  as  its  necessary  physical  im- 
provements are  concerned,  the  struggle  becomes 
almost  hopeless.  Urban  needs  can  hardly  be  sat- 
isfied after  that  without  practical  confiscation,  and 
the  jostle  and  hustle  of  city  business  will  go  on  at 
accelerating  speed  until  life  becomes  what  it  is  in 
New  York  to-day,  —  by  turns  a  nightmare  and  a 
voluptuous  dream. 

In  practice  the  American  people  have  not  real- 
ized sufficiently  the  socialjinpoitance  of  ^he  street. 
In  many  states,  when  the  country  was  new,  private 
road  companies  were  organized  to  construct  roads 
and  keep  them  in  repair,  and  many  toll-gates  are 
^11  standingj^^ften  in  the  vicinity  of  large  cities, 
to  testify  to  the  persistence  of  private  rights  where  .  ^ 
the  power  to  levy  tribute  upon  traffic  has  once  been 
given.  The  toll  roads  are  being  gradually  brought  "" 
under  public  control,  and  doubtless  in  time  all  roads 
will  become  free.  There  is,  however,  a  curious  and 
striking  ,ilIustratiojti_of  the  possibilities  of  tb^  p"-  . 
vate  control  of  streets  in  the  city  of  Baltimore.  j| 
■TlTefea  number  of  roads  leading  out  of  the  city 
are  actually  owned  by  the  street-railway  company 
that  has  its  car  lines  in  them.  The  public,  using 
these  streets  for  ordinary  purposes,  are  exercising 
the  privileges  of  a  franchise  in  the  company^s 
^  31 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

streets,  and  have  to  pay  toll  even  within  the  cor- 
porate limits  of  the  city. 

This  case,  though  not  very  important  in  itself, 
makes  a  vivid  impression  upon  the  imagination. 
Americans  have  come  to  regard  the  pubHc  high- 
ways as  public  property,  and  municipal  ownership 
of  streets  is  so  much  a  matter  of  course  that  it  is 
ordinarily  unnoticed.  It  is  a  part  of  the  fully- 
accepted  American  theory  that  streets  should  be 
laid  out,  improved,  and  kept  in  repair  at  public  ex- 
pense and  by  public  authority.  Street  improve- 
ments, however,  especially  opening,  grading,  and 
first  paving,  are  usually  paid  for,  not  wholly  by  the 
city  at  large,  but  mainly  by  the  property  adjoining 
or  adjacent  to  the  street,  and  such  improvements 
are  usually^undertaken  upon  the  initiative  of  ad- 
joining property  holders/though  the  city  council 
generally  has  the  ultimate  authority  to  order  the 
improvement  even  against  the  protest  of  those  who 
are  to  pay  for  it.  The  control  of  the  streets,  so  far 
as  the  construction  of  the  road-bed  for  general 
travel  and  traffic  is  concerned,  is  a  clearly  recog- 
nized monopoly  conducted  by  the  local  authorities 
in  the  interest  of  the  community. 

The  growth  of  cities  and  the  progress  of  me- 
chanical arts  have  brought  about  improved  methods 
of  transportation,  and  have  given  rise  to  new  and 
peculiar  uses  of  the  street.  When  the  railway  be- 
comes as  absolutely  essential  in  the  common,  every- 
day life  of  the  people  as  the  wagon  road  is,  —  and 
that  day  seems  to  be  at  hand,  for  city  people  at  any 


THE   STREET 

rate,  —  it  may  come  to  be  considered  as  anomalous 
to  have  privately  owned  railways  as  it  is  now  to 
have  private  roads.     In  the  case  of  the  street  rail- 1  \  'Iv 
ways,  however,  where  the  companies  make  use  of  \ 
the   ordinary  streets,  acquiring  certain   rights  of^"^ 
way  and   modifying  the   road-bed   to   meet   their 
needs,  even  though  general  traffic  is  considerably 
inconvenienced   thereby,  the   anomaly  of   private 
ownership  will  perhaps  sooner  become  apparent. 
Monopolies   and  special   privileges  controlled  by 
^private  persons  for  selfish  eiiH^  wher^-  they.. iu-  .,;.«, 
volve  the  power  to  tax  the  common  necessities  of    \ 
life,  are,  of  course,  inimical  to  democracy,  both  in   jp* 
^theory  and  in  practice.     A  street-car  strike  in  a   |  ] 
/great   city   brings   to   light   the   enormous   power 
involved  in  the  control  of  city  car  lines.     In  pro- 
^portion  to  the  usefulness  of  a  thing  is  its  power 
►ver  us,  and  the  street  railway  system  in  its  com- 
►aratively  short  life  has  so  fashioned  the  growth  of 
four  cities  and  so  changed  the  habits  of  their  citi- 
|zens  that  a  tie-up  of  the  lines  means  a  very  serious 
paralysis  of  city  Hfe.     In  a  city  Uke  New  York  a 
complete  stoppage  of  the  cars  and  ferries  for  a 
week  would  have  unthinkable  consequences.     Pri- 
vate ownership  of  the  facilities  for  transportation 
can  be  tolerated  under  such  circumstances  only 
when  ownership  is  so  far  subordinated  to  public 
control   as   to    be    in    fact    conditional.      Strictly 
speaking,  under  the  conditions  of  life  in  a  great 
city,  private  ownership  of  transportation  facilities  is 
impossible.     These  facihties  are  so  public  in  their 
^  33 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

very  nature  that  law  itself  cannot  successfully  con- 
travene this  fact  and  make  them  private.  In  a 
great  city  the  transportation  system  has  to  be 
nearly  as  constant  and  certain  in  its  operation  as 
the  law  of  gravity. 

The  control  of  transportation  facilities  in  their 
development  is  scarcely  less  important  than  in  their 
use.  Here  we  encounter,  to  be  sure,  two  radically 
different  views  of  social  progress.  On  the  one 
hand  are  the  people  who  say  that  cities  are  not 
made,  but  grow ;  that  private  effort  follows  in  some 
mysterious  way  the  natural  law  of  social  develop- 
ment, while  public  or  community  effort  stumbles 
along  mechanically,  runs  counter  to  nature,  and 
destroys  what  it  strives  to  develop.  This  view  is 
responsible  for  the  "  let  alone  "  theory  in  general 
politics.  On  the  other  hand,  we  find  a  large  class 
of  people  who  believe  in  conscious  community 
effort,  asserting  that  community  effort  is  just  as 
"natural"  as  private  effort,  and  in  many  cases 
more  so.  Men  of  this  class  hold  that  common 
sense  and  foresight  can  be  applied  to  public  affairs 
with  just  as  good  results  as  to  private  affairs.  Evi- 
dently, from  the  political  or  governmental  stand- 
point, this  view  is  exclusive.  The  other  involves  a 
contradiction  of  the  very  existence  of  governmental 
organization ;  it  is  anarchistic.  From  the  socialistiei 
or  cooperative  standpoint,  the  development  of  fa-i 
cilities  for  transportation  should  be  governed  con-\ 
sciously  for  the  furtherance  of  certain  apcial  ends  j 
or  the  avoidance  of  certain  social  evils.       ,   . .  - 

34  "^         ^-w 


THE   STREET 

The  city  of  New  York  may  again  be  brought 
up  as  an  example  of  what  the  development  of  the 
transportation  system,  guided  by  priYat_e_  forci 
thought,  wiir~accornplisTi.  The  topographical 
gifuation  and  the  conditions  favored  the  growth 
of  a  great  city.  This  prospect  was  recognized 
long  ago.  In  fact,  at  the  beginning^f  the  last 
century,  when  New  York  had  less  than  one  huri- 
dfe^'^'tlibusand  inhabitants,  a  local  newspaper 
figured  out  with  tolerable  accuracy  the  present 
population  of  the  American  metropolis.^  Manhat- 
tan Island,  superbly  situated  for  the  site  of  a 
healthful  and  beautiful  city,  if  developed  along 
rational  lines,  is  nevertheless  so  narrow  and  sepa- 
rated from  Long  Island  on  the  one  side  and  New 
Jersey  on  the  other  by  such  wide  expanses  of 
water,  that  crowding  was  to  have  been  expected 
there  with  the  growth  of  a  great  city,  unless  ex- 
traordinary measures  were  adopted  to  control  the 
distribution  of  population.  Perhaps  we  should 
not  blame  the  citizens  of  New  York  of  the  early 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century  for  their  lack  of 
foresight  in  municipal  matters,  for  at  that  time 
the  modern  era  of  city-building  was  hardly  begun, 
and  mistakes  that  would  be  inexcusable  in  the 
light  of  the  experience  of  the  past  century  could 
have  been  avoided  at  that  period  only  by  extraor- 
dinary wisdom  and  civic  patriotism.  This  fact 
does  not  diminish,  but  rather  increases,  the  re- 
sponsibility of   the  present   generation  to  awake 

1  The  New  York  Daily  Advertiser ^  April,  1806. 

35 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

to  a  higher  civic  consciousness,  and  to  a  deter- 
mined municipal  program  to  protect  the  future 
against  the  ravages  of  the  present. 

The  city  of  New  York,  by  its  early  charters,  was 
granted  the  municipal  ownership  of  the  ferries, 
markets,  lands  under  water  for  four  hundred  feet 
about  the  island,  and  all  unappropriated  lands  on 
the  island  to  low-water  mark.  The  revenues  from 
these  municipal  properties  usually  paid  the  ex- 
penses of  the  government  in  the  early  days,  but 
gradually  the  city  fell  into  the  policy  of  selling 
its  lands  to  meet  extraordinary  demands  upon  its 
treasury,  and  this  policy  was  not  reversed  until 
practically  the  whole  of  Manhattan  Island,  an 
almost  priceless  heritage  from  the  fathers,  had 
become  the  property  of  individuals,  and  the  enor- 
mous wealth  created  by  the  growth  of  the  city  was 
not  available  for  the  public  improvements  pecul- 
iarly necessary  in  New  York  to  prevent  intolerable 
congestion. 1 

As  long  ago  as  1864  the  tenement  population  of 
New  York  was  reckoned  at  486,000,  and  the 
Council  of  Hygiene,  in  a  report  to  the  Citizens' 
Association  on  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  city, 
said :  *'  It  is  true  that  the  tenement-houses  of 
New  York  are  rapidly  becoming  the  nests  of  fever 
and  infection  and  the  poisoned  abodes  of  physical 
decay.  It  is  true  that  in  the  tenement-house  dis- 
tricts a  worse  than  Spartan  fate  awaits  all  children, 

1  See  Mr.  E.  Dana  Durand's  The  Finances  of  New  York  City, 
pp.  18,  19,  226,  227. 

36 


THE   STREET 

and  that  cholera  infantum,  convulsions,  scrofula, 
and  marasmus  hover  with  ghoul-like  fiendishness 
about  the  dismal  and  crowded  tenant-houses  of 
the  great  mass  of  infantile  lives  within  the  city. 
It  is  true  that  we  find  the  great  body  of  the  former 
middle  class  of  society  rapidly  becoming  absorbed 
into  and  allied  with  the  poor  tenant-house  class, 
and  experiencing  the  lamentable  evils  that  sur- 
round such  homes  as  theirs  ;  it  is  true  that  the 
tenant-houses  of  the  city  as  a  whole,  as  well  as 
of  particular  districts,  are  becoming  rapidly  and 
perilously  aggregated ;  and  it  is  Hkewise  true  that 
moral,  social,  and  political  evils  are  fearfully 
augmenting  and  ominously  threatening  in  our  city, 
in  consequence  of  all  these  unfortunate  physical 
conditions.  But  is  it  not  reasonable  and  true  that 
inasmuch  as  the  causes  of  all  these  evils  have  been 
and  are  mainly  physical,  —  or  at  least  always  aUied 
with  material  agencies  which  are  under  human 
control,  —  in  the  same  degree,  and  conversely  and 
by  redeeming  conditions  mainly  of  a  physical  na- 
ture, the  evils  we  now  deprecate,  and  the  impend- 
ing perils  we  now  fear,  may  be  and  should  speedily 
be  averted  and  effectually  prevented  }  "  ^ 

In  1868,  according  to  the  report  of  the  Board  of 
Health,  there  were  18,582  tenement-houses  in  the 
city,  while  the  4120  dwellings  of  the  seventeenth 
ward  sheltered  95,091  people  or  23  persons  to  a 
house,  and  in  the  fourth  ward  the  population  was 

1  Council  of  Hygiene's  Report  on  Sanitary  Condition  of  New 
York,  p.  Ixxiii. 

37 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

crowded  in  at  the  rate  of  290,000  to  the  square 
mile.  A  few  years  later  Mr.  Charles  Loring  Brace, 
writing  of  the  dangerous  social  effects  of  crowd- 
ing, recommended  a  better  system  of  transportation 
as  the  most  promising  means  for  improving  con- 
ditions. *'  The  great  remedies,"  said  he,  "  are  to 
be  looked  for  in  broad  general  provisions  for  dis- 
tributing population.  Thus  far  the  means  of 
communication  between  business  New  York  and 
the  suburbs  have  been  singularly  defective.  An 
underground  railway  with  cheap  workmen's  trains, 
or  elevated  railways  with  similar  conveniences,  con- 
necting Westchester  County  and  the  lower  part 
of  the  city,  or  suburbs  laid  out  in  New  Jersey  or 
on  Long  Island  expressly  for  working  people, 
with  cheap  connections  with  New  York  and 
Brooklyn,  would  soon  make  a  vast  difference  with 
the  concentration  of  population  in  our  lower 
wards."  1  The  underground  railway  recommended 
is  just  now  being  built  at  enormous  expense  under 
municipal  control. 

For  several  decades  the  elevated  roads  have 
borne  their  millions  of  passengers  up  and  down  the 
city,  making  three  or  four  of  the  great  north  and 
south  thoroughfares  hideous  with  darkness,  noise, 
and  obstruction.  Few  experiences  can  be  more 
suggestive  of  the  worst  evils  of  crowding  in  great 
cities  than  to  ride  on  the  New  York  elevated 
trains  and  look  into  the  countless  windows  where 
homes  are  deprived  of  even  that  modicum  of  pri- 

1  The  Dangerous  Classes  of  New  York,  pp.  58,  59. 

38 


THE   STREET 

vacy  which  results  from  living  in  upper  stories,  and 
where  the  deafening  roar  of  the  trains  a  few  feet 
away  is  almost  continuous.  For  the  development 
of  a  system  of  street  railways,  the  city  from  time 
to  time  granted  franchises  which  are  now  worth, 
subject  to  the  conditions  imposed  by  the  grants,  in 
the  neighborhood  of,  perhaps,  $250,000,000.1  The 
story  of  these  grants  is  the  all  too  common  story  of 
municipal  short-sightedness  and  official  corruption. 
There  is,  indeed,  no  fact  more  potent  to  make  the 
blood  boil  in  the  veins  of  a  free  citizen  of  a  free 
country  than  this,  —  namely,  that  the  Broadway 
franchise,  granted  by  boodlers  some  of  whom  were 

1  This  estimate  is  a  mere  rough  approximation.  As  shown  later, 
in  Chapter  XI,  the  value  of  all  New  York  City's  street-railway  fran- 
chises, including  those  of  the  elevated  roads,  would  be  about 
^240,000,000  if  figured  on  the  same  proportion  of  franchise  value  to 
total  value  as  indicated  by  Mr.  Maltbie's  analysis  of  Chicago  street- 
railway  statistics.  We  should  remember,  however,  that  in  New 
York  there  are  many  perpetual  franchises  in  a  city  where  population 
is  extremely  dense,  while  in  Chicago  many  of  the  franchises  soon 
expire.  This  would  tend  to  greatly  increase  the  proportionate 
value  of  the  franchises  in  New  York.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
Reform  Club  Committee  on  City  Affairs,  basing  its  judgment  on 
figures  furnished  it  from  what  it  considers  a  reliable  source,  esti- 
mates the  value  of  the  franchises  of  the  surface  lines  alone  in  old 
New  York  at  ^175,000,000.  If  the  franchise  values  of  the  sur- 
face lines  in  the  boroughs  of  Brooklyn,  Queens,  and  Richmond,  and 
of  the  elevated  roads,  bore  the  same  relation  to  the  total  amount 
of  their  capitalization,  as  the  franchise  value  of  the  lines  included 
in  the  committee's  estimates,  we  should  have  a  total  of  about 
$370,000,000  of  franchise  values  for  all  the  surface  and  elevated  roads 
of  New  York  City.  See  Municipal  Affairs,  Vol.  VI,  No.  i,  pp.  68-86, 
Vol.  V,  No.  3,  pp.  439-594,  and  Street  and  Electric  Railways,  Bul- 
letin No.  3,  United  States  Census  Office,  pp.  55,  56. 

39 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

afterwards  convicted  of  receiving  great  bribes  for 
their  votes,  nevertheless  remained  a  valid  grant, 
and  the  people  had  no  remedy.  The  development 
of  the  transportation  system  of  New  York  under 
influences  such  as  these  could  not  have  been  ex- 
pected to  serve  any  social  purposes  in  so  far  as 
they  might  oppose  or  transcend  the  private  in- 
terests in  control.  At  the  rush  hours,  when  the 
great  mass  of  clerks  and  business  men  have  to  go 
down  town  to  their  business  or  back  to  their 
homes,  riding  in  a  New  York  elevated  train  is 
much  like  joining  in  a  foot-ball  rush.  The  cars 
seat  forty-eight  people  each,  but  are  often  so 
crowded  that  more  people  are  standing  than  sit- 
ting. Men  and  women  are  packed  in,  in  uncom- 
fortable positions,  with  wretched  air  to  breathe, 
and  the  common  courtesies  of  civilized  travel 
made  impossible.  Similar  conditions  haunt  much 
of  the  travel  on  the  surface  cars,  and  the  New 
York  end  of  the  old  Brooklyn  Bridge  is  the  scene 
of  a  daily  mob.  The  conditions  of  street-car  travel 
in  Brooklyn  are  so  bad  that  a  recent  grand  jury 
declared  them  intolerable,  denounced  the  private 
management,  and  prescribed  municipal  operation 
as  the  only  guarantee  that  the  transportation 
system  of  the  great  metropolis  would  be  con- 
ducted in  a  manner  to  subserve  necessary  social 
ends. 

We  need  not  blame  the  private  companies  in 
control  of  the  streets  of  New  York  more  than 
other  men  engaged  in  strictly  self-seeking  enter- 

40 


THE   STREET 

prises,  but  it  is   certain    that   the   transportation 
system  has  lagged  behijad-the-'growth  of  the  city, 
'li!Ta"i!aT1ii^"veFBeei^  haihng  distance  of  the 

stage  of  development  where  it  could  really  relieve 
the  congestion  of  Manhattan  Island.  Says  the 
Tenement  House  Commission  of  1900:  ''With  all 
the  remedial  legislation  and  regulation  which  has 
been  put  into  operation  since  the  enactment  of 
the  iirst  tenement-house  law  in  1867,  the  pres- 
ent type  of  tenement,  occupying  75  per  cent 
of  a  twenty-five-foot  lot,  with  four  families  on  a 
floor,  gives  to  its  occupants  less  Hght  and  less  ven- 
tilation, less  fire  protection  and  less  comfortable 
surroundings,  than  the  average  tenement  of  fifty 
years  ago,  which  was  lower  in  height,  occupied 
less  lot  space,  and  sheltered  fewer  people."  ^  More 
than  three-fourths  of  all  the  people  of  old  New 
York  live  in  tenement  and  apartment  houses. 
The  city  has  reached  a  point  where  even  the  re- 
formers despair  of  better  transportation  as  a 
remedy.  In  answer  to  the  question  whether  rapid 
transit  and  tunnels  and  bridges  across  the  East 
River  would  solve  the  problem,  the  commission 
says :  "  A  family  which  now  pays  from  $12  to  $18 
a  month  for  its  apartment  in  a  tenement-house 
must  be  able  to  pay  at  least  $20  a  month  for  a 
separate  house  in  the  suburbs,  a  reason  sufficient 
in  itself  to  keep  it  in  the  tenement.  Other  in- 
fluences—  famiharity  with  tenement  life,  which, 
however  distasteful  to  previous   generations,  has 

1  Unpublished  Report,  p.  5. 
41 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

now  perforce  grown  into  habit,  the  natural  incli- 
nation of  our  large  foreign  population  to  group 
itself    in   neighborhoods   on     national    lines,    and 
I  other  causes  equally  potent  —  all  tend  in  the  same 

I  direction."  ^ 
4 

Going  on  to  speak  of  "  the  tall  tenement-house 

accommodating  as  many  as  lOO  to  150  persons 
in  one  building,  extending  up  six  or  seven  stories 
in  the  air,  with  dark,  unventilated  rooms,"  the 
commission  says  that  this  type,  so  common  in 
New  York,  is  practically  unknown  abroad.  The 
tenement-house  problem  is  more  acute  in  New 
York  than  anywhere  else  in  the  civilized  world. 
"The  effect  upon  the  population  of  the  form 
of  congregated  living  found  in  our  tenement- 
houses,"  continues  the  report,  "  is  to  be  seen  not 
only  in  its  results  upon  the  health  of  the  people 
but  upon  their  moral  and  social  conditions  as 
well.  The  public  mind  just  now  is  especially 
aroused  over  the  manifestations  of  one  special  form 
of  vice  in  tenement  districts.  It  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered that  vice  in  various  forms  should  manifest 
itself  in  the  tenements ;  the  wonder  is  that  there  is 
not  more  vice  in  such  districts.  The  tenement 
districts  in  New  York  are  places  in  which  thousands 
of  people  are  living  in  the  smallest  space  in  which 
it  is  possible  for  human  beings  to  exist  —  crowded 
together  in  dark,  ill-ventilated  rooms,  in  many  of 
which  the  sunlight  never  enters,  and  in  the  most 
of  which  fresh  air  is  unknown.     They  are  centres 

1  Unpublished  Report,  p.  7. 
42 


THE   STREET 

of  disease,  poverty,  vice,  and  crime,  where  it  is 
a  marvel  not  that  some  children  grow  up  to  be 
thieves,  drunkards,  and  prostitutes,  but  that  so 
many  should  ever  grow  up  to  be  decent  and  self- 
respecting.  All  the  conditions  which  surround 
childhood,  youth,  and  womanhood  in  New  York's 
crowded  tenement  quarters  make  for  unrighteous- 
ness. They  also  make  for  disease.  There  is  hardly 
a  tenement-house  in  >yhich  there  has  not  been  at 
least  one  case  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis  within  the 
last  five  years,  and  in  some  houses  there  has  been 
as  great  a  number  as  twenty-two  different  cases  of 
this  terrible  disease.  From  the  tenement  there 
comes  a  stream  of  sick,  helpless  people  to  our  hos- 
pitals and  dispensaries,  few  of  whom  are  able  to 
afford  the  luxury  of  a  private  physician,  and  some 
houses  are  in  such  bad  sanitary  condition  that  few 
people  can  be  seriously  ill  in  them  and  get  well ; 
from  them  also  comes  a  host  of  paupers  and  charity 
seekers.  The  most  terrible  of  all  the  features  of 
tenement-house  life  in  New  York,  however,  is  the 
indiscriminate  herding  of  all  kinds  of  people  in 
close  contact,  —  the  fact  that,  mingled  with  the 
drunken,  the  dissolute,  the  improvident,  the  dis- 
eased, dwell  the  great  mass  of  the  respectable 
workingmen  of  the  city  with  their  families."  ^ 

Conditions  in  New  York  are  undoubtedly  extreme, 
but  still  typical  of  the  tendencies  of  unregulated 
municipal  development.  The  New  York  Commis- 
sion ^fQund  by  careful  inquiry  that  the  tenement- 

1  Unpublished  Report,  pp.  12,  13. 
43 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

house  problem  is  also  present  in  Boston,  Jersey 
City,  Cincinnati,  and  Hartford.^  Surely  there  can 
be  no  excuse  for  a  city  like  Hartford  to  permit 
itself  to  be  afflicted  with  such  a  problem.  Trans- 
portation can  surely  provide  an  adequate  remedy 
in  a  city  of  less  than  one  hundred  thousand  people. 
To  any  city  the  avoidance  of  the  congestion  of 
population  in  tenement-houses  is  so  transcendently 
important  that  the  city  cannot  afford  to  stop  shor^t 
of  the  most  heroic  measures  necessary  to  make  the 
transportation  system  do  its  utmost  to  subserve  the 
large  civic  interests.^ 

It  seems  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  the 
commanding  importance  of  full  municipal  control 

1  According  to  this  New  York  Commission,  Chicago,  Buffalo, 
Pittsburg,  and  Kansas  City,  while  having  few  tenement-houses 
like  those  in  New  York,  have  serious  housing  problems  arising 
from  unsanitary  dwellings. 

2  The  housing  problem  has  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention  in 
London  in  recent  years.  Two  or  three  years  ago,  at  a  special  con- 
ference to  consider  this  problem,  Mr.  Charles  Booth  read  a  paper  on 
Improved  Means  of  Loco??ioHon  as  a  First  Step  towards  the  Cure 
of  the  Housing  Difficulties  of  London.  Speaking  in  favor  of 
municipal  enterprise,  he  said  :  "  The  choice  lies,  in  effect,  between 
working  a  monopoly  or  granting  one  for  some  one  else  to  work,  who 
is,  in  the  present  case,  likely  to  be  less  enterprising  than  a  public 
authority  ;  less  capable  of  looking  at  the  whole  service  in  a  broad 
spirit  ;  and  is  therefore  less  fitted  for  our  purpose.  .  .  .  The  rea- 
sons in  favor  of  a  unified  scheme  are  obvious,  and  show  in  the 
clearest  way  the  advantage  of  public  over  private  enterprise  in 
this  matter  for  the  attainment  of  the  end  we  have  in  view.  Private 
enterprise  will  seize  on  the  most  profitable  routes  and  reject  all 
others.  Public  enterprise  will  look  to  the  profit  on  one  part  of 
the  system  to  help  those  not  less  necessary  parts  (from  a  public 

44 


THE   STREET 

over  the  water-supply  of  any  large  city.  But  all 
large  cities  were  once  small,  and  it  is  while  a  city 
is  small  that  its  poHcy  in  regard  to  public  utiHties, 
especially  the  water-supply,  is  usually  determined. 
Once  a  franchise  is  granted,  it  is  difficult  and  ex- 
pensive for  the  municipality  to  get  control.  For 
example,  the  city  of  Los  Angeles,  California,  in- 
herited from  the  old  Spanish  pueblo  municipal 
rights  in  the  water  of  the  river,  which  is  the  most 
available  source  of  supply  for  the  city.  In  1868 
the  city  turned  over  its  embryo  waterworks  to  a 
private  company,  and  cr.tered  into  a  thirty-year 
contract  with  it  for  the  supply  of  water  to  the 
citizens.  When  this  contract  expired  a  few  years 
ago,  the  city  wished  to  regain  control  of  its  water- 
supply,  but  it  was  successful  only  after  a  prolonged 
struggle.  Says  the  municipal  Board  of  Water 
Commissioners  in  its  first  annual  report :  "  It  is 
not  necessary,  nor  is  it  fitting,  that  this  report 
should  attempt  to  deal  with  the  merits  of  the 
controversy  between  the  water  company  and  the 
city  which  arose  upon  the  expiration  of  the  term  of 
the  contract  and  was  carried  on  for  over  three 
years,  in  many  actions,  in  all  the  courts  having 
jurisdiction,  and  involving  many  difficult  questions 
of  law  and  equity.  The  controversy  has  been 
terminated   by  the   taking   over  of  the  works  by 

point  of  view)  of  which  the  working  is  less,  or  perhaps  not  at  all, 
profitable.  To  allow  private  companies  to  acquire  all  the  main 
routes  would  be  apt  to  block  the  way  to  all  further  action,  and  en- 
danger the  indirect  results  at  which  we  aim." 

45 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

the  city  at  the  agreed  price  of  ^2,000,000,  and  the 
settlement  was  overwhelmingly  approved  by  the 
citizens,  as  shown  by  their  vote  of  over  five  to  one 
authorizing  the  issue  of  the  water  bonds.  It  is 
well,  however,  to  seriously  consider  and  take  to 
heart  the  unmistakable  lesson  taught  by  the  whole 
history  of  this  transaction,  beginning  with  the 
execution  of  the  contract  in  1868  and  ending  with 
the  payment  of  the  price  for  the  works  in  1901  ; 
and  that  lesson  is  the  unwisdom  and  the  danger  of 
yielding  up  for  any  consideration  or  to  any  person 
the  municipal  control  of  the  waters  which  the  city 
owns  and  has  always  owned.  It  is  not  the  eco- 
nomic theory  of  municipal  ownership  and  adminis- 
tration of  public  utilities  which  concerns  us  ;  we 
are  confronted  with  a  condition  and  not  a  theory. 
The  city  owns  its  water  and  our  experience  should 
convince  us  of  this  generation  of  the  far-sighted 
wisdom  of  our  Spanish  and  Mexican  predecessors 
in  holding  on  to  their  rights  in  the  waters  of  the 
river  of  Los  Angeles  with  a  grip  of  iron."  ^ 

At  first  thought  the  importance  of  public  con- 
trol over  the  distribution  of  gas  would  seem  to 
be  less  absolute  than  in  the  case  of  water  and 
transportation.  Still,  it  is  generally  recognized 
that  cheap  gas  for  heat,  light,  and  cooking  is  a 
matter  of  great  moment  to  the  masses  of  people 
living  in  large  cities.  One  of  the  strongest  rea- 
sons  that    Dr.    Shaw  finds   for  commending   the 

^  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Water  Commissioners  of  the 
Domestic  Waterworks  System  of  Los  Angeles,  California,  1902,  p.  4. 

46 


THE   STREET 

municipal  distribution  of  gas  in  Glasgow  is  this 
very  fact  of  the  beneficent  effects  of  cheap  light 
and  fuel  from  the  standpoint  of  the  general  wel- 
fare.^ 

A  recent  writer  in  the  Municipal  Journal  and 
Engineer'^  has  called  attention  to  a  condition  of 
affairs  that  affords  a  still  more  imperative  reason 
for  municipal  control.  "  There  are  few  American 
communities,"  says  this  writer,  ''  in  which  the  facts 
of  gas  leakage  and  distribution,  if  known  and  com- 
prehended, would  not  create  a  popular  panic.  I 
will  give  the  facts  for  one  American  city.  The 
loss  in  distribution  was  about  1 1  per  cent ;  in 
round  figures,  three  thousand  millions  of  cubic 
feet.  At  60  cents  per  1000,  this  is  $1,800,000 
per  annum  which  the  consumer  must  pay.  This 
gas  is  known  as  water-gas.  Most  of  the  leakage 
is  under  measurably  or  absolutely  impervious  pave- 
ments. It  cannot  work  its  way  up  through  the 
soil  and  escape,  but  most  of  it  in  one  way  or 
another  gets  into  houses."  The  writer  goes  on 
to  explain  that  pavements  are  destroyed  by  this 
escaped  gas,  the  olefiants  attacking  and  decom- 
posing the  binder  of  asphalt.  The  fire  hazard 
from  gas  leakage  is  immense.  The  New  York 
City  bureau  of  buildings,  in  recent  investigations, 
have  usually  found  from  0.2  or  0.3  per  cent  to 
5  per  cent  of  gas  in  the  air  of  theatres,  music  halls, 
and   other  places  of  public  assembly,  even  dur- 

^  Albert  Shaw,  Municipal  Government  in  Great  Britain,  pp. 
18-21.  2  September  issue,  1902,  Mr.  James  C.  Bayles. 

47 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

ing  the  summer  with  the  maximum  of  ventilation. 
In  commenting  on  the  hygienic  aspects  of  the 
case,  this  writer  quotes  the  expert  opinion  of  a 
New  York  specialist.  "  The  principal  cause," 
says  he,  "  of  the  anaemia  and  lowered  vitality 
which  sooner  or  later  appears  in  all  city  workers 
is  the  illuminating  gas  with  which  the  atmosphere 
is  heavily  charged.  When  inhaled  in  large  quan- 
tity, carbon  monoxide  causes  a  profound  anaemia, 
often  fatal.  When  the  air  contains  but  a  small 
percentage,  a  less  pronounced  anaemia  gradually 
but  surely  appears.  Doubtless  this  will  be  recog- 
nized eventually  as  the  cause  of  the  readiness  with 
which  the  city  dweller  contracts  grippe,  tubercu- 
losis, pneumonia,  and  many  other  diseases."  Dr. 
Shaw  states  that  in  Glasgow,  under  private  owner- 
ship, gas  leakage  amounted  to  20  per  cent,  while 
under  municipal  control  it  has  been  reduced  to 
half  that.i 

The  desirability  of  public  control  over  electric 
lighting  and  telephone  services,  apart  from  the 
question  of  special  privileges  in  the  streets,  arises 
mainly  from  the  importance  of  the  cheapest  pos- 
sible service  to  the  citizens.  Electricity  is  con- 
sidered the  ideal  form  of  light.  It  should  certainly 
be  used  in  all  public  buildings,  and  the  extent  of 
its  use  for  this  purpose  and  in  lighting  the  streets 
may  often  justify  a  municipal  plant  even  though 
the  city  does  not  go  into  the  commercial  lighting 
business.     So  far  as  the  telephone  is  concerned,  it 

1  op.  cit.,  p.  119. 

48 


THE   STREET 

is  still  a  rather  expensiYe_luxurj  for  many  who 
uselt,  but  the  organization  of  business  and  social 
life  is  adjusting  itself  so  largely  with  reference  to 
this  instrument  of  communication  that  in  the  long 
run  the  people  who  cannot  afford  telephones  in 
their  homes  will  be  seriously  handicapped  in  their 
relations  with  society.  In  this,  as  in  many  other 
things,  the  development  of  modern  conveniences 
tends  to  increase  the  advantages  of  the  business 
and  professional  classes  of  the  community.  It 
is  important,  therefore,  from  the  standpoint  of 
democracy  that  the  modern  means  of  communi- 
cation should  be  accessible  to  as  large  a  number 
of  citizens  as  possible. 

In  the  preceding  pages  I  have  attempted  to 
indicate  the  paramount  interest  of  the  city  in  the 
right  development  of  the  ordinary  so-called  mu- 
nicipal utilities.  Perhaps  an  equal  interest  on  the 
part  of  the  public  in  other  services,  such  as,  for 
example,  the  fuel  and  food  supplies,  could  be 
shown.  There  is,  however,  one  important  fact 
that  distinguishes  what  are  commonly  called  local 
public  utilities  from  other  social  services.  This 
fact  is  the  necessity  for  the  use  of  the  streets  in 
peculiar  and  practically  exclusive  ways  by  street 
railways,  water,  gas,  and  electric  works,  and  tele- 
phone systems.  A  franchise  is  a  special  privilege 
and  involves  the  right  to  place  in,  under,  or  over 
the  street  certain  fixtures  by  means  of  which  a 
business  can  be  carried  on.  The  streets  being 
limited  in  width  and  tending  to  become  crowded 
E  49 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

,1  in  use  in  large  cities,  a  street  franchise  naturally 
\<^  gravitates  toward  monopoly.  This  is  particularly 
\  true  in  regard  to  street  railways  where  the  neces- 
sary fixtures  are  placed  in  the  road-bed  itself,  and 
one  double  line  of  tracks  occupies  so  large  a  share 
of  the  street  surface  that  in  ordinary  cases  com- 
peting lines  in  the  same  street  are  not  to  be  per- 
mitted by  the  public.  The  case  is  not  quite  so 
clear  where  the  fixtures  are  pipes  or  conduits 
underground  or  wires  overhead.  But  the  expen- 
siveness  of  competition,  where  a  complete  dupli- 
cation of  the  distributing  system  is  involved,  as 
well  as  the  reluctance  of  the  city  to  permit  fre- 
quent tearing  up  of  the  road-bed,  or  the  multipli- 
cation of  wires  overhead,  operates  in  practice  to 
produce  monopoly  in  most  cases.  Out  of  y8  cities 
having  a  population  of  more  than  50,000  each  in 
1900,  only  15,  or  19  per  cent,  have  more  than  one 
gas  company.^  The  existence  of  a  monopoly,  man- 
aged by  a  private  individual  or  corporation,  renders 
the  public  control  of  any  common  service  in  the 
interests  of  the  community  at  large  extremely  diffi- 
cult. So  far  as  special  privileges  in  the  street  are 
concerned,  competition  would  only  aggravate  the 
difficulty  and  make  municipal  control  more  need- 
ful, if  that  were  possible.  In  any  case  the  streets 
of  a  city  are  such  an  essential  asset  of  its  free 
citizens  that  it  is  questionable  whether  a  municipal 
corporation  should   ever  grant   the   right  to  any 

1  These  figures  were  compiled  from  the  Municipal  Year  Book, 
1902. 

50 


THE   STREET 

private  parties  to  place  fixtures  in  the  highways. 
At  least,  any  such  rights,  if  granted,  should  be 
strictly  limited  in  their  term  and  the  manner  of 
their  exercise,  and  should  be  revocable  whenever 
the  public  interest  demands.  A  condition  of 
affairs  where  a  private  company  can  fight  the 
city  on  a  claim  of  rights  in  the  street  in  perpe- 
tuity, or  for  a  term  of  years,  on  the  strength  of 
some  doubtful  or  implied  grant,  is  well-nigh  intoler- 
able. Furthermore,  practically  all  those  services 
which  require  special  privileges  in  the  streets  are 
of  such  general  importance  as  to  demand  that 
their  performance  be  very  nearly  at  cost.  Cheap 
water,  light,  and  transportation  have  come  to  be 
almost  as  essential  a  condition  of  life  in  cities  as 
free  highways.  This  brings  us  to  the  practical 
question  of  municipal  franchises  and  the  control 
of  municipal  monopolies  in  American  cities. 


51 


CHAPTER   III 

THE  CONTROL  OF   PUBLIC  UTILITIES 

According  to  the  Annual  Report  of  the  United 
States  Department  of  Labor  for  1899,  there  were 
at  that  time  3326  water  plants,  965  gas-plants, 
and  3032  electric-light  plants  in  this  country.  Of 
the  waterworks,  1787,  or  53.7  per  cent;  of  the 
gas-works,  14,  or  1.5  per  cent;  of  the  electric- 
light  works,  460,  or  15.2  per  cent,  were  owned  by 
the  municipalities.  These  municipal  plants  repre- 
sented 67.5  per  cent,  0.6  per  cent,  and  4.6  per  cent 
of  the  estimated  total  investment  in  waterworks, 
gas-works,  and  electric-light  works  respectively. 
These  figures  indicate  that  municipal  ownership  of 
waterworks  is  relatively  more  common  in  the  large 
cities  than  in  the  small  ones,  while  the  reverse  is 
true  with  regard  to  electric-light  works.  This  ob- 
servation is  confirmed  by  the  Statistics  of  Cities 
for  1902  contained  in  Bulletin  No.  42  of  the  De- 
partment of  Labor.  It  appears  that  of  38  cities 
with  a  population  of  more  than  100,000,  all  but 
8  own  the  waterworks ;  and  of  the  40  cities  hav- 
ing between  50,000  and  100,000  population,  there 
are  only  11  supplied  with  water  by  private  com- 
panies. The  principal  cities  without  municipal 
waterworks     are     San     Francisco,     Indianapolis, 

52 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

New  Haven,  Paterson,  St.  Joseph,  Omaha,  and 
Scranton.  •  Louisville  has  control  of  the  company 
which  furnishes  water  to  the  city.  Jersey  City 
owns  the  distributing  system  only.  Denver  owns 
the  system,  but  has  leased  it  to  a  private  company. 

There  are  4  cities  out  of  135  with  over  30,000 
population  that  own  gas-plants.  These  are  Phila- 
delphia, Richmond,  Duluth,  and  Wheeling.  Phila- 
delphia has  leased  its  plant.  Louisville  owns  a 
large  part  of  the  stock  of  the  local  gas  company. 
In  this  same  class  of  cities  there  are  thirteen  own- 
ing electric-hght  works,  chief  among  them  being 
Chicago,  Detroit,  Allegheny,  Columbus,  St.  Joseph, 
and  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan.  It  should  be  noted, 
however,  that  of  the  50  largest  municipal  electric- 
light  plants  reported  by  the  Department  of  Labor 
in  1899  only  20  were  used  for  commercial  lighting. 
I  know  of  no  instance  in  the  United  States  where 
a  city  or  town  owns  a  street-railway  or  a  telephone 
system,  with  the  exception  of  the  Boston  and  New 
York  subways,  and  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  railway 
formerly  operated  under  the  joint  auspices  of  New 
York  City  and  Brooklyn.^ 

At  the  other  extreme  is  the  sewerage  system, 
which  is  almost  universally  owned  by  the  city,  there 
being  only  47  private  sewerage  systems  out  of  1096 
reported  in  the  American  Municipal  Year  Book  for 
1902.     Nevertheless,  New  Orleans,  until  now  the 

1  Grand  Junction,  Colorado,  a  town  of  3500  population,  owned 
for  a  year  or  two  about  a  mile  of  horse  railway,  but  the  enterprise 
has  been  abandoned  and  the  track  taken  up. 

53 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

most  conspicuous  American  example  of  a  sewerless 
city,  twice  granted  a  sewer  franchise  to  private 
|)arties,  though  to  no  purpose  in  the  end.^  Sew- 
erage being  principally  a  sanitary  measure,  there 
is  as  a  rule  no  charge  made  for  the  service,  except 
that  original  construction  expenses  are  often  as- 
sessed upon  benefited  property.  The  natural  re- 
sult of  these  conditions  is  that  sewerage  lies  almost 
outside  the  pale  of  municipal  monopolies,  and 
ordinarily  offers  little  inducement  for  the  invest- 
ment of  private  capital. 

The  facts  here  summarized  show  pretty  clearly 
the  past  American  theory  with  reference  to  mu- 
nicipal monopolies.  The  supply  of  water  is  quite 
generally  assumed  to  be  a  natural  municipal  func- 
tion, although  in  cities  where  the  works  are  owned 
by  private  companies  a  movement  toward  munici- 
palization is  met  by  the  same  objections  that  are 
raised  against  the  municipal  ownership  of  street 
railways  or  lighting  plants.  Thus  in  California, 
where  only  1 3  cities  out  of  34  having  a  population 
of  more  than  3000  each  have  municipal  water- 
works,^  the  recent  struggle  for  municipal  ownership 
in  the  largest  cities  has  met  with  determined  oppo- 
sition. Private  ownership  of  gas-works  has  been 
the  almost  universal  practice  in  American  cities, 
but  the  growth  of  sentiment  in  favor  of  municipal 
ownership  of  such  utilities  is  clearly  shown  in  the 

1  See  an  article  by  W.  T.  Crotts  in  ihe  Journal  of  the  Association 
of  Engineering  Societies,  November,  1901. 

2  See  American  Municipal  Year  Book,  pp.  300-307. 

54 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

larger  percentage  of  electric-light  plants  owned 
by  the  city,  electricity  having  come  into  common 
use  for  street  and  house  lighting  much  later  than 
gas.  The  fact  remains,  however,  that  most  of  the 
municipal  monopolies  in  the  cities  of  the  United 
States  are  privately  owned  and  operated  under 
franchises,  or  special  privileges  in  the  street, 
granted  by  the  public  authorities.  Only  a  com- 
paratively few  of  the  large  cities  have  the  right, 
under  their  charters,  to  acquire  or  construct 
street  railways,  lighting  plants,  and  telephone  sys- 
tems. The  most  marked  exceptions  to  this  rule 
are  San  Francisco,  Denver,  and  Portland,  Oregon, 
which  have  been  given  practically  complete  author- 
ity in  this  matter  by  recent  legislation,  and  Chicago, 
which  has  been  a;uthorized  to  undertake  the  street- 
railway  business  by  a  recent  act  of  the  Illinois 
legislature. 

Franchises  in  the  streets  are  usually  granted  by 
the  city  council  under  express  authority  of  the 
state  legislature  contained  in  the  city  charter,  or  in 
general  or  special  acts  governing  the  various  kinds 
of  franchises.  This  general  rule  is  subject  to 
numerous  exceptions  however.  The  state  legisla- 
ture may,  in  the  absence  of  constitutional  prohibi- 
tions, grant  local  franchises  directly,  and  this 
power  has  sometimes  been  used.  Unless  forbid- 
den by  the  constitution,  the  state  legislature  may 
also  give  public-service  corporations  of  a  certain 
class  the  right  to  use  any  or  all  of  the  public  high- 
ways of  the  state  or  the  streets  of  all  cities  in  the 

55 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

state,  under  such  limitations  as  to  state  or  local 
control  as  the  legislature  sees  fit  to  impose.  This 
general  authority,  when  exercised,  sometimes  leads 
to  confusion  as  regards  the  rights  of  local  authori- 
ties. For  example,  in  Michigan,  telephone  com- 
panies are  authorized  by  general  law  to  construct 
and  maintain  their  lines  "al(fng,  over,  across,  or 
under  any  public  places,  streets,  and  highways," 
provided  that  their  lines  do  not  **  injuriously  inter- 
fere with  other  public  uses  of  the  said  places, 
streets,  and  highways."^  At  the  same  time  the 
municipal  authorities  have,  as  a  rule,  sufficient 
control  over  the  streets  so  that  it  is  practically 
necessary  for  a  telephone  company  to  secure  a 
franchise  from  any  city  in  which  it  wishes  to 
operate.  Gas  and  electric  companies  are  author- 
ized by  the  laws  of  Michigan  to  use  the  streets  of 
any  of  the  municipalities  of  the  state,  but  their 
**  pipes  or  conductors  shall  be  laid  with  the  consent 
of  the  municipal  authorities  of  such  cities,  town- 
ships, or  villages  through  which  the  same  are  laid, 
under  such  reasonable  regulations  as  they  may 
prescribe."^  Under  this  provision  Hghting  com- 
panies do,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  secure  franchise 
ordinances  from  cities,  but  there  is  some  doubt  as 
to  whether  a  city  could  absolutely  refuse  to  let  its 
streets  be  used  by  a  Hghting  company.  One  of 
the  annoying  franchise  problems  of  Grand  Rapids 
arises  from  the  fact  that  a  decrepit  private  water 

1  See  Compiled  Laws  of  i8g7,  Sec.  6691. 
'^Jbid.,  Sec.  7123. 

56 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

company  operates  under  a  special  charter  obtained 
from  the  legislature  a  great  many  years  ago,^  and 
keeps  up  a  feeble  competition  under  its  perpetual 
franchise,  with  the  city  waterworks  system,  in  the 
hope  that  the  city  may  in  time  be  induced  to  buy 
out  its  little  rival  at  a  substantial  profit  to  the 
present  owners.  Michigan  is,  however,  far  behind 
the  most  advanced  thought  and  constitutional  prac- 
tice of  the  states  in  the  matter  of  franchises. 

Many  commonwealth  constitutions  specifically 
forbid  the  legislature's  granting  any  special  or 
exclusive  privilege  by  special  act,  or  authorizing 
the  use  of  the  streets  by  any  public  service  cor- 
poration without  the  consent  of  the  local  authori- 
ties. A  good  example  of  this  latter  prohibition  is 
found  in  the  constitution  of  South  CaroUna,  adopted 
in  1895.  Section  4  of  Article  VIII  provides 
that  "  no  law  shall  be  passed  by  the  General  As- 
sembly granting  the  right  to  construct  and  operate 
a  street  or  other  railway,  telegraph,  telephone,  or 
electric  plant,  or  to  erect  water  or  gas  works  for 
public  uses,  or  to  lay  mains  for  any  purpose,  without 
first  obtaining  the  consent  of  the  local  authorities 
in  control  of  the  streets  and  public  places  proposed 
to  be  occupied  for  any  such  or  like  purposes."  A 
provision  like  this,  but  applying  to  street  railways 
only,  is  found  in  many  state  constitutions,  particu- 

^This  charter  was  obtained  in  1849,  the  year  before  the  present 
constitution  was  adopted,  and,  although  containing  a  reservation  to 
the  legislature  of  the  right  to  repeal  or  amend,  has  been  long  con- 
sidered a  perpetual  franchise. 

57 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

larly  in  the  South  and  West.  A  curious  reversal 
of  the  general  tendency  of  constitutional  limitations 
along  this  line  is  found  in  a  Rhode  Island  constitu- 
tional amendment,  adopted  in  1892,  which  provides 
that  no  corporation  shall  be  created  with  the  power 
to  acquire  franchises  in  the  streets  and  highways 
of  towns  and  cities  except  by  special  act  of  the 
general  assembly. 

The  two  states  in  which  the  constitutions  take 
the  most  advanced  ground  in  regard  to  the  control 
of  franchise  grants  are  Virginia  and  Colorado. 
The  former  in  its  new  constitution,  adopted  in 
1902,  provides  that  "no  street  railway,  gas,  water, 
steam  or  electric  heating,  electric  light  or  power, 
cold  storage,  compressed  air,  viaduct,  conduit,  tele- 
phone, or  bridge  company,  nor  any  corporation, 
association,  person  or  partnership,  engaged  in  these 
or  like  enterprises  "  shall  be  permitted  to  use  the 
streets  without  the  consent  of  the  municipal  au- 
thorities, and  such  consent  shall  not  be  granted  ex- 
cept by  absolute  three-fourths  vote  of  the  members 
of  the  city  council.  No  franchise  shall  be  granted 
for  a  longer  period  than  thirty  years,  and  the 
municipality,  before  granting  it,  must  receive  bids 
for  it  in  a  manner  to  be  prescribed  by  statute. 
Any  franchise  may  provide  that  the  city  shall  come 
into  possession  of  the  works  at  the  expiration  of 
the  grant,  and  operate  them,  if  authorized  by  law. 
Every  franchise  must  make  adequate  provision  "  to 
secure  efficiency  of  public  service  at  reasonable 
rates  and  the  maintenance  of  the  property  in  good 

58 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

order  throughout  the  term  of  the  grant."  The 
general  assembly  is  authorized  to  put  further  re- 
strictions upon  the  grant  of  franchises.^  A  Colo- 
rado constitutional  amendment,  also  ratified  in 
1902,  provides  that  under  the  new  "home  rule" 
city  charters,  no  franchises  relating  to  the  use  of 
any  street,  alley,  or  public  place  shall  be  granted 
except  upon  vote  of  the  qualified  tax-paying 
electors.^ 

The  method  of  granting  franchises  by  popular 
vote  only,  or  by  popular  vote  if  asked  for  by  a 
certain  percentage  of  the  electors,  is  growing  in 
favor,  and  bids  fair  to  be  the  one  established 
method  of  procedure  in  many  states  and  cities  in 
the  near  future.  A  movement  is  on  foot  in  some 
cities  to  secure  the  adoption  of  a  rule  of  procedure 
by  the  city  council  which  would  require  every 
franchise  ordinance,  after  passing  its  third  reading 
and  before  its  final  passage,  to  lie  on  the  table  for 
thirty  days ;  and,  if  within  that  time  a  petition 
signed  by  a  certain  number  of  members  of  the 
council,  or  a  certain  percentage  of  the  voters  of 
the  city  is  presented  asking  that  the  ordinance  be 
submitted  to  popular  vote,  then  the  franchise  to 
be  so  submitted.  As  recently  adopted  in  Detroit, 
this  rule  required  a  petition  signed  by  eight  alder- 
men or  by  5  per  cent  of  the  qualified  voters  as 
shown  by  the  last  preceding  registration.  The 
old  way  of  legislation,  by  ordinance  passed  by  a 
majority  vote  of   the  city  council,  acting  without 

1  Constitution,  Sees.  124,  125.         ^  /^/^.^  Art.  XX,  Sees.  4,  6. 
59 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

any  particular  limitation  upon  their  power  or  pro- 
cedure, is  fast  giving  place  to  more  careful 
methods  such  as  are  indicated  by  the  provisions 
I  have  cited. 

Even  more  important,  if  that  is  possible,  than 
the  authority  and  method  of  the  grant,  is  its  dura- 
tion. We  have  been  waking  up  of  late  years  to 
the  absolute  iniquity  of  giving  away,  or  seUing, 
for  that  matter,  the  rights  of  posterity  in  the 
streets.  It  is  coming  to  be  recognized  as  an  out- 
rage upon  future  generations,  something  that 
would  be  branded  as  a  crime  by  them  if  they 
could  speak  for  themselves,  to  bind  over  in  per- 
petuity to  private  control  the  open  streets,  the 
unique  symbols  of  the  city's  freedom.  The  old 
policy,  most  forcibly  illustrated  in  the  franchise 
history  of  New  York  City,  is  absolutely  conscience- 
less. It  is  a  part  of  the  general  craze  for  the  ex- 
ploitation and  appropriation  to  private  use  of  the 
great  natural  resources  of  a  new  country.  At  the 
present  time,  no  one  would  dare  seriously  to  pro- 
pose the  grant  of  a  perpetual  franchise  unless  he 
included  in  it  a  provision  for  periodical  revalua- 
tion, and  continued  payments  to  the  city,  or  peri- 
odical readjustment  of  prices  and  continual 
improvement  of  service.  The  plan  with  these 
modifications  has  some  good  points,  but  the  fatal 
objection  to  it  is  that  it  seeks  to  commit  a  city  for 
all  time  to  come  against  municipal  ownership  and 
operation  or  any  other  change  which  the  future 
may  show  to   be   wise.     Municipal   ownership   is 

60 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

certainly  a  question  that  we  ought  to  leave 
coming  generations  free  to  settle  as  they  see  fit, 
even  if  we  cannot  trust  ourselves  to  settle  it. 

In  Massachusetts,  franchises  are  indeterminate 
and  revocable  at  any  time  at  the  will  of  the  public 
authorities.  Such  a  system  has  much  in  its  favor, 
and  the  people  of  Massachusetts  have  shown  con- 
clusively that  such  franchises  are  safe  enough  for 
the  companies  working  under  them.^  In  most 
states,  however,  the  constitution,  the  statutes,  or 
custom  now  requires  that  franchise  grants  shall  be 
for  a  definite  period  of  years,  usually  not  exceed- 
ing fifty,  thirty,  twenty-five,  or  twenty-one.  The 
Virginia  constitution  limits  them  to  thirty  years. 
The  charter  of  Greater  New  York  limits  future 
grants  to  twenty-five  years,  though  the  new  sub- 
way is  to  be  leased  for  half  a  century.  Twenty- 
one  years  is  the  limit  of  time  proposed  by  the 
National  Municipal  League,  and  laws  permitting 
fifty-year  grants  in  Ohio  and  Illinois  have  been  re- 
pealed in  recent  years  in  response  to  tremendous 
popular  indignation.  In  some  cases  grants  have 
been  extended  or  renewed  long  before  their  expi- 
ration. This  practice  often  leads  to  protracted 
and  expensive  litigation.  The  Chicago  street- 
railway  companies  claim  for  a  part  of  their  lines 

^  See  Report  of  the  Street  Railway  Commission  to  City  Council  of 
Chicago,  December,  1900,  pp.  24-26,  and  also  Report  of  the  Special 
Committee  appointed  to  investigate  the  Relations  between  Cities  and 
Towns  and  Street  Raihvay  Companies  in  Massachusetts,  1896,  pp. 

61 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

a  ninety-nine  year  extension  by  legislative  act  in 
1865.  The  Indianapolis  company  a  few  years  ago 
succeeded  in  establishing  the  legality  of  an  amend- 
ing ordinance  passed  in  1880,  changing  the  term 
of  a  franchise  granted  in  1864  from  thirty  to 
thirty-seven  years. 

A  table  of  forty-three  street-railway  companies 
in  thirty-four  cities  of  the  United  States,  sub- 
mitted by  the  Indianapolis  company  to  a  special 
committee  of  the  Commercial  Club  of  that  city  in 
1899,  showed  about  one-third  of  the  franchises  to 
be  perpetual.^  Rochester  saved  itself  from  the 
disgrace  of  granting  a  perpetual  franchise  by 
limiting  the  grant  to  the  period  of  999  years.  In 
one  or  two  other  cities  a  ninety-nine-year  franchise 
is  claimed.  There  are  iifty-year  franchises  in 
about  one-fifth  of  the  cities.  In  the  rest  the  terms 
are  generally  shorter,  and  often  different  in  the 
same  city.  In  Michigan  the  constitution  limits 
the  life  of  corporations  to  thirty  years,  and,  follow- 
ing this  indication  of  state  policy,  the  principal 
municipal  franchise  grants  have  been  made  for 
that  period.  In  1887,  however,  a  gas  franchise, 
without  time  limit,  was  granted  by  the  city  of 
Jackson,  and  it  is  at  least  questionable  whether 
cities  throughout  the  state  could  not  grant  perpet- 
ual franchises  unless  forbidden  by  their  charters.^ 

One    of    the    worst    blunders     committed     by 

1  See  Report  of  Commercial  Club  Special  Committee  on  Indian- 
apolis Street  Railway  Franchise,  p.  26. 

2  Franchises  granted   to   corporations  would   naturally   expire 

62 


THE   CONTROL  OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

American  cities  has  been  the  grant  of  different 
franchises  from  time  to  time,  which  expire  at  dif- 
ferent periods,  and  which  are,  nevertheless,  so 
intimately  connected  that  they  cannot  be  operated 
separately  except  at  a  great  disadvantage.  This 
mistake  has  been  committed  in  Cleveland^  and 
Chicago,  among  other  cities,  and  has  furnished  one 
of  the  knottiest  problems  of  municipal  control 
during  recent  years  when  these  cities  have  been 
struggling  for  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  street- 
railway  franchise  question.  Every  clause  that 
tends  to  make  a  franchise  ordinance  or  law 
cloudy  or  contradictory  seems  to  work  out  in  favor 
of  the  private  corporation,  for  it  opens  the  way  to 
lawsuits  in  which  corporation  attorneys  show  off 
to  great  advantage  as  against  their  comparatively 
low-salaried  antagonists  who  look  after  the  munici- 
pal interests. 

The  tendency  of  the  time  is  to  make  franchise 
grants  shorter  and  to  make  all  subsidiary  grants 
expire  with  the  principal  franchise.  This  public 
poHcy  will  in  the  long  run  prevail,  in  the  absence  of 
municipal  operation,  unless  it  is  found  that  in- 
determinate grants  keep  the  companies  under 
better  control. 

The  operation  of  a  public  utility  franchise 
touches  the  interests  of  the  people  so  intimately 

with  the  life  of  the  corporations,  but,  if  granted  to  individuals, 
might  perhaps  be  handed  down  in  perpetuity. 

1  See  "The  Street  Railroad  Problem  in  Cleveland,"  by  W.  R. 
Hopkins,  published  in  Economic  Studies,  1896. 

^2. 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

and  in  so  many  ways,  that  only  the  most  reckless 
of  councils  grant  franchises  without  imposing  terms 
and  conditions  upon  the  grantees.  The  first  neces- 
sary condition  is  that  the  grantee  shall  not  infringe 
upon  the  rights  of  the  general  public  to  the  free 
use  of  the  streets  any  more  than  is  necessary  for 
the  successful  conduct  of  his  business.  To  this 
end  provision  is  usually  made  for  the  exercise  of 
some  sort  of  control  on  the  part  of  the  municipal 
authorities  as  to  what  streets  may  be  used  and  in 
what  manner  the  necessary  fixtures  shall  be  in- 
stalled. With  street  railways,  which  naturally  are 
laid  on  a  comparatively  small  number  of  streets, 
the  franchise  ordinance  usually  maps  out  the 
routes,  and  the  grant  is  vaUd  only  for  the  routes  so 
described.  But  with  other  public  utilities  which 
need  to  have  access  to  all  the  buildings  in  the 
city,  the  ordinary  franchise  is  a  grant  for  the  use 
of  all  streets,  subject  to  a  Umited  control  by  the 
authorities  prior  to  the  actual  installation  of  the 
fixtures  in  new  places.  The  franchise  often  re- 
quires the  grantees  to  obey  all  street  ordinances. 
This  reservation  gives  the  city  the  right  to  regulate 
the  height  and  location  of  poles  and  the  stringing 
of  wires.  It  is  generally  competent  for  the  author- 
ities of  at  least  the  larger  cities  to  require  that  all 
wires  be  put  underground. 

A  second  condition  generally  imposed  in  con- 
nection with  a  franchise  grant  is  that  the  grantee 
shall,  after  opening  the  pavement  to  lay  tracks, 
pipes,  or  conduits,  restore  the  street  to  as  good  a 

64 


THE   CONTROL  OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

condition  as  it  was  in  before  being  torn  open.  The 
impossibility  of  enforcing  this  condition  absolutely 
has  led  to  considerable  agitation  in  the  great  cities 
in  favor  of  underground  tunnels  in  which  all  pipes, 
wires,  and  conduits  should  be  placed.  The  city  of 
New  York,  in  getting  authority  to  construct  its 
subway,  forgot  to  ask  for  power  to  build  such  a 
tunnel  gallery  in  connection  with  it.  This  blunder 
has  since  been  partially  corrected.  In  all  cases  the 
authorities  should  have  strict  supervision  over  the 
opening  of  pavements  by  the  operators  of  street 
franchises. 

A  third  condition,  more  important  though  per- 
haps not  more  necessary  than  the  preceding  ones, 
is  the  fixing  of  a  maximum  rate  or  price  for  the 
service  rendered.  This  is  most  common  in  the 
case  of  street  railways,  though  a  maximum  is  often 
fixed  in  telephone  and  lighting  franchises.  In 
California,  where  private  ownership  has  until 
lately  been  the  rule  even  in  the  case  of  water- 
works, it  is  an  express  policy  laid  down  in  the 
constitution  that  the  municipal  governments  shall 
have  the  right  to  regulate  the  charges  of  water 
and  lighting  companies.  The  attempt  to  exercise 
this  right  by  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  San 
Francisco  has  been  the  occasion  of  much  dissen- 
sion, and  has  not  brought  altogether  satisfactory 
results.  In  connection  with  a  maximum  fare 
requirement,  other  conditions  in  regard  to  service 
are  often  imposed  in  the  case  of  street  railways. 
There  is  a  strong  sentiment  everywhere  in  favor  of 

65 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

universal  transfers,  so  that  a  person  can  ride  from 
any  one  place  in  a  city  to  any  other  for  a  single 
fare.  This  is  a  very  difficult  proposition  in  cities 
where  there  are  two  or  more  companies,  and,  in 
any  case,  the  system,  unless  carefully  guarded, 
lends  itself  to  abuses.  The  average  citizen  has 
even  less  scruples  about  cheating  a  street-railway 
company  than  he  has  about  imposing  a  short  day 
or  a  high  price  upon  his  municipality.  This  fact 
has  undoubtedly  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with  the 
stiff  opposition  that  the  companies  have  usually 
put  up  against  the  demand  for  free  universal 
transfers.  Street  cars  are  commonly  required  to 
be  run  on  a  certain  schedule  by  the  terms  of  the 
franchise,  and  other  conditions  calculated  to  insure 
good  service  are  sometimes  imposed. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that,  with  rates  fixed  low  enough, 
and  stringent  enough  other  conditions  imposed  upon 
the  franchise-holder,  the  franchise  itself  would  have 
no  monetary  value.  If  the  control  exercised  over 
the  conduct  of  an  ordinary  business  by  competition 
is  replaced  in  the  case  of  street  monopolies  by  an 
equally  efficient  control  by  municipal  authority,  the 
monopoly  value  of  the  franchise  is  not  forthcom- 
ing. And,  too,  when  cities  are  young  and  public 
utilities,  the  need  of  which  is  sorely  felt,  are  still 
in  the  experimental  stage  commercially,  citizens 
are  inclined  to  favor  making  any  concessions  and 
granting  any  privileges  that  will  bring  about  the 
desired  improvements  and  bring  them  quickly. 
Under  such  conditions  the  first  franchises  in  most 

66 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

American  cities  were  given  away.  After  a  time 
private  promoters  began  to  see  that  a  franchise 
had  monetary  value,  especially  if  it  was  for  a 
long  term  of  years  in  a  growing  city,  and  subject 
to  conditions  that  would  make  the  utility  self-sup- 
porting at  the  start.  When  common  councils  got 
hold  of  this  idea,  the  era  opened  in  which  pro- 
moters found  it  more  convenient  to  pay  a  part 
of  the  value  of  a  franchise  to  the  aldermen  as 
individuals  than  to  pay  the  whole  of  it  into  the 
city  treasury.  After  the  people  at  large  woke  up 
to  the  fact  that  f ranch' ^s  granted  on  desirable 
conditions  are  valuable,  a  third  era  began  to  dawn, 
the  era  of  agitation  for  the  sale  of  franchises,  so 
that  the  people  as  a  whole  should  get  some  return 
for  the  rights  which  they  grant. 

There  are  four  ways  in  which  public  compensa- 
tion may  be  received  for  a  franchise :  first,  in 
kind ;  second,  in  service ;  third,  in  a  lump  cash 
payment;  fourth,  in  an  annual  rental,  a  tax  upon 
receipts,  or  a  car-license  fee.  Compensation  of 
the  first  kind  was  often  exacted  even  in  the  early 
days  of  franchise  grants.  A  company  might  be 
required  to  furnish  water  for  fire  protection  or 
street  sprinkling,  either  free  or  at  reduced  rates ; 
or  to  furnish  light  for  streets  and  public  buildings 
at  minimum  prices  ;  or  to  furnish  transportation 
for  policemen ;  or  to  install  a  certain  number  of 
free  telephones  in  the  pubHc  buildings.  Another 
method  of  compensation  extremely  common  in 
the  case  of  street  railways  is  the  paving  of  the 

67 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

street  or  a  part  of  it  at  the  expense  of  the  fran- 
chise-holder. This  requirement  has  amounted  to 
several  millions  of  dollars  in  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore,  and  even  in  a  city  like  Grand  Rapids, 
of  scarcely  100,000  population,  the  street-railway 
company  has  been  assessed  for  paving  within 
the  last  dozen  years  about  ^150,000.  The  diffi- 
culty experienced  by  municipal  authorities  and  the 
people  at  large  in  estimating  the  value  of  a  fran- 
chise has  suggested  to  many  the  idea  that  the 
fetich  of  the  market  —  competition  —  should  be 
invoked,  and  the  franchise,  subject  to  conditions 
imposed  by  the  ordinance,  be  sold  to  the  highest 
bidder.  The  American  people  have  not  been  at 
all  slow  about  exploiting  the  natural  resources  of 
their  country  for  the  benefit  of  the  present  genera- 
tion and  to  the  prospective  impoverishment  of  the 
future.  Following  this  same  instinct  there  has 
been  in  many  quarters  a  strong  movement  for  the 
sale  of  franchises  for  a  lump  sum,  so  that  the  bur- 
dens of  the  tax-payers  of  to-day  might  be  lessened 
by  a  levy  upon  the  resources  of  to-morrow.  The 
movement  has  not,  however,  attained  any  alarming 
proportions  as  yet  in  a  practical  way,  as  witness 
the  notorious  Philadelphia  incident  where  the 
authorities  chose  to  give  franchises  to  a  pet  cor- 
poration rather  than  receive  for  the  city  the  sum 
of    ;^2, 500,000,  offered   by  a  responsible   citizen.^ 

1  See  in  Municipal  Affairs,  Vol.  V,  No.  2,  pp.  419-426,  an  arti- 
cle by  Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff  on  "  Recent  Legislation  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  Philadelphia." 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

And,  indeed,  much  can  be  said  in  favor  of  offer- 
ing franchises  to  the  highest  bidder  wherever 
conditions  still  render  competition  in  bidding  prac- 
ticable, but  compensation  should  not  be  given  at 
once  in  a  lump  sum,  but  rather  by  an  annual  pay- 
ment during  the  life  of  a  franchise.  This  is  the 
last  and  most  approved  method  of  securing  to  the 
city  the  value  of  the  rights  it  bestows.  As  already 
suggested,  prices  may  be  so  limited  and  such  con- 
ditions of  service  imposed  as  to  take  away  all  value 
from  a  franchise,  reserving  the  benefits  of  it  to  the 
consumers  of  the  utility ;  but  if  the  city  at  large 
is  to  receive  any  compensation  at  all,  it  ought  to 
be  in  shape  of  an  annual  license  tax,  a  rental,  or  a 
percentage  of  gross  receipts.  Ideally,  of  course, 
the  city  should  receive  from  year  to  year  all  sur- 
plus over  and  above  a  fair  return  on  the  capital 
actually  invested,  but  such  an  arrangement  takes 
away  the  incentive  for  the  franchise-holder  to  con- 
duct his  business  economically,  without  substitut- 
ing what  might  well  be  the  equally  powerful  motive 
which  urges  a  responsible  public  official  to  conduct 
the  city's  business  with  an  eye  single  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  city. 

The  possession  and  use  of  franchise  privileges 
in  the  streets,  subject  to  greater  or  less  control 
by  the  municipal  authorities,  has  been  attended  in 
America  by  certain  great  evils.  The  most  de- 
structive of  these  is  the  corruption  of  the  public 
officials  of  cities  and  the  legislatures  of  states.  It 
is  not  always  easy  to  trace  the  origin  of  corrupt 

69 


■i 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

habits.  Corruption  grows  under  favoring  condi- 
tions. The  seed  is  everywhere  present  in  human 
nature,  and  there  are  no  conditions  more  favor- 
able to  its  growth  than  those  which  have  often 
existed  in  our  large  cities.  With  the  spirit  of 
business  prevalent,  each  man  hustling  to  accu- 
mulate money  and  get  on  in  the  worlds  there  has 
been  almost  no  public  conscience,  no  alert  civic 
inteUigence,  no  reaHzation  of  municipal  unity  and 
duty  to  the  future.  Under  such  conditions  men 
animated  by  selfish  motives  have  sought  special 
privileges  from  the  cities.  With  valuable  rights  to 
be  granted,  and  with  no  expectation  on  the  part  of 
the  public  that  the  city  would  receive  cash  for  the 
grant  of  a  franchise,  the  beginning  of  corrupt 
practices  was  like  putting  two  and  two  together. 
After  corruption  had  once  begun,  whoever  may 
have  started  it,  both  the  corporations  and  the  pub- 
lic officials  have  been  guilty  of  carrying  it  on  for 
their  own  advantage,  each  blaming  the  other. 
One  of  the  most  discouraging  factors  in  the  public 
life  of  America  to-day  is  the  legislator  and  the 
alderman  who  seek  their  positions  in  order  to  make 
personal  profit  by  blackmailing.  No  one  knows 
exactly  how  numerous  such  men  are,  but  at  certain 
times  and  in  certain  places  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  they  are  numerous.  I  suppose  the  most 
shameful  revelation  of  corrupt  franchise-grabbing 
made  in  this  country  was  made  very  recently  in 
St.  Louis,  where  dealing  in  franchises  had  come 
to  be  recognized   as   a   full-fledged  private  busi- 

70 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

ness.^  The  corruption  attendant  upon  franchise 
grants  has  been  too  flagrant  and  too  well  known 
to  need  detailed  description  here. 

It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  the  out-and- 
out  bribery  of  aldermen  by  means  of  money  is  by 
no  means  the  most  common  form  of  corruption  in 
these  matters.  Often  election  expenses  are  paid 
by  the  corporation,  or  perhaps  its  own  employees 
are  elected,  or  free  passes  on  the  street  cars  are 
given,  or  business  is  turned  toward  the  friendly 
officials.  The  most  effective  weapon,  however,  in 
the  hands  of  the  corporation,  is  often  the  power  of 
specious  argument  advanced  by  skilful  attorneys 
and  based  upon  facts  of  which  the  public  is  igno- 

1  In  St.  Louis  a  combine  was  formed  in  each  of  the  houses  of 
the  city  legislature,  and  "  a  scale  of  prices  was  fixed  upon  fran- 
chises of  all  kinds,  from  a  railroad  switch  or  an  excavation  in  the 
streets  to  traction  and  lighting  contracts  of  enormous  value."  The 
boodlers  took  the  following  oath :  — 

"  I  do  solemnly  swear  before  the  Almighty  God  that  in  associat- 
ing myself,  and  in  becoming  a  member  of  this  combine,  I  will  vote 
and  act  with  the  combine  whenever  and  wherever  I  may  be  so 
ordered  to  do ; 

"  And  I  further  solemnly  swear  that  I  will  not  at  any  place  or 
time  reveal  the  fact  that  there  is  a  combine,  and  that  I  will  not 
communicate  to  any  person  or  persons  anything  that  may  take 
place  at  any  meeting  of  the  combine  ; 

"  And  I  do  solemnly  agree  that,  in  case  I  should  reveal  the  fact 
that  any  person  in  this  combine  has  received  money,  I  hereby 
permit  and  authorize  other  members  of  this  combine  to  take  the 
forfeit  of  my  life  in  such  manner  as  they  may  deem  proper,  and 
that  my  throat  may  be  cut,  my  tongue  torn  out,  and  my  body  cast 
into  the  Mississippi  River. 

"  And  all  of  this  I  do  solemnly  swear,  so  help  me  God." 

71 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

rant.  The  corporation,  if  it  is  already  occupying 
a  franchise,  knows  what  the  facts  of  the  business 
are,  while  the  people's  representatives  are  in  the 
dark.  One  of  the  most  lamentable  modes  of 
corruption  is  believed  to  have  been  practised  in 
Cleveland  during  recent  years.  In  Ohio  cities  a 
street-railway  franchise  cannot  be  granted  until 
the  grantee  has  secured  the  consent  of  a  majority 
of  the  abutting  property  owners  along  the  pro- 
posed route.  Not  long  ago,  when  a  competing 
franchise  was  to  be  granted  in  Cleveland,  it  was 
openly  charged  that  the  existing  companies  bribed 
property  holders  to  withdraw  or  withhold  their  con- 
sents to  the  construction  of  a  new  line. 

The  second  great  evil  in  the  management  of 
privately  owned  public  utilities  in  the  United 
States  has  been  inadequacy  of  service.  It  is  often 
claimed  that  in  comparison  with  European  cities 
American  towns  have  much  to  be  thankful  for  in 
this  regard.  But  whatever  may  be  the  compara- 
tive excellence  of  the  service  here  and  abroad,  it 
is  certain  that  in  many  American  cities  at  many 
times  the  service  has  been  poor.  The  way  cars 
are  crowded  at  the  rush  hours  is  outrageous,  and 
should  not  be  tolerated  wherever  the  natural  con- 
ditions will  permit  alleviation  of  the  difficulty.  In 
every  case  where  the  conditions  of  the  franchise 
or  the  negligence  of  the  city  authorities  permit 
the  company  to  make  a  saving  at  the  expense  of 
the  public  without  appreciably  diminishing  traffic, 
there  is  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  company  to 

72 


UNIVERSITY   ) 


THE   CONTRO^^liSJ^f^IC  UTILITIES 

do  so.  Private  and  selfish  interests  control  often 
to  the  exasperation  and  useless  annoyance  of  the 
patrons  of  the  street  cars.  In  the  same  way  the 
private  ownership  of  waterworks  seems  ill  suited 
to  a  ready  vigilance  over  the  purity  of  the  supply. 
The  public  often  suffers  also  from  impure  gas  and 
gas  leakage.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  oper- 
ation of  these  services  by  the  city  often  leaves 
much  to  be  desired.  Nevertheless,  inadequate 
service,  wherever  it  occurs  under  private  owner- 
ship, is  an  evil  to  be  charged  up  against  the 
management.  Such  a  gross  wrong  as  the  supply 
of  impure  water  for  domestic  use  in  a  great  city  is 
intolerable  under  conditions  where  the  people 
themselves  are  not  to  blame  for  it.  If  a  city, 
owning  waterworks,  continues  to  supply  itself 
with  deadly  drink,  that  may  be  considered  one  of 
the  privileges  which  it  is  practically  necessary  to 
grant  democracy.  In  other  words,  murder  is 
worse  than  suicide. 

Another  evil  of  private  ownership  has  been  the 
inadequate  compensation  of  the  public  for  the 
franchises.  Of  late  years  many  cities  have  waked 
up  to  find  their  streets  mortgaged,  perhaps  for  all 
time  to  come,  and  their  general  taxes  so  high  as  to 
be  almost  unbearable.  In  the  meantime  the  com- 
panies that  secured  the  franchises  for  next  to 
nothing  have  been  developing  their  business  and 
nursing  the  value  of  their  special  privileges  until 
in  the  open  market  they  are  worth  millions  of 
dollars.     It  is  quite  inexcusable  that  a  city  should 

73 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

be  tax-ridden,  as  many  of  our  cities  are,  while  private 
corporations  are  enjoying  special  privileges  in  the 
streets  by  which  they  are  enabled  to  mulct  the  users 
of  public  utilities  for  the  realization  of  exorbi- 
tant profits  on  the  capital  invested.  We  need  not 
contend  that  the  city  should  relieve  its  general  tax 
rolls  by  drawing  profits  from  public  utilities,  but  it 
is  clearly  an  outrage  that  citizens  already  groaning 
under  tax  burdens  should  be  compelled  to  pay 
out-of-date  prices  for  public  utility  services.  The 
time  was  when  a  straight  five-cent  street-car  fare  or 
dollar  gas  was  reasonable,  but  conditions  have  so 
changed,  both  through  the  increased  density  of 
population  and  through  the  cheapening  of  produc- 
tion, that  such  prices  are  in  many  cities  exorbitant 
and  outrageous.  The  Grand  Rapids  Railway 
Company,  for  example,  while  groaning  under  the 
weight  of  its  taxation,  has  stock  and  bonds 
whose  combined  market  value  is  about  ^5,000,000, 
at  least  ^3,000,000  of  which  must  represent 
franchise  value  and  the  hope  of  better  things  to 
come.  It  ought  to  be  clear  by  this  time  in  the 
history  of  municipal  affairs  that  a  street  franchise 
belongs  to  the  city,  and  should  be  granted  either 
on  such  conditions  that  it  will  have  no  market 
value  or  on  condition  that  the  city  receive  dollar 
for  dollar  of  its  market  value. 

This  brings  us  to  the  fourth  great  evil  of  our 
present  system, — namely,  overcapitalization  and 
stock  jobbery.  Referring  to  Grand  Rapids'  ex- 
perience  again,  we   see   the  case  of  a  new   gas 

74 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

company  which  a  few  years  ago  bought  out  the 
old  company  for  $600,000,  and  immediately  issued 
bonds  for  double  that  sum  and  stock  for  an  even 
;^ 1, 000,000.  It  is  the  same  story  everywhere. 
Franchises  are  capitalized  at  an  enormous  value, 
and  the  future  is  mortgaged  for  perhaps  a  gen- 
eration, apparently  for  the  sole  purpose  of  deceiv- 
ing the  public  and  enriching  the  promoters  by 
means  of  stock-juggling.  The  importance  of  this 
evil  can  hardly  be  overestimated,  for  in  these  days 
of  complex  industrial  life  stocks  and  bonds  furnish 
the  only  available  means  for  the  investment  of  the 
savings  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  people  who 
own  little.  Watering  stock  is  an  indirect  way  of 
stealing.  By  means  of  this  process,  immense 
blocks  of  securities  are  manufactured  **  out  of 
whole  cloth"  for  the  promoters.  These  securities 
are  then  commonly  worked  off  upon  the  public, 
and  the  franchise  values  pocketed  by  the  promot- 
ers in  the  form  of  cash  or  other  securities.  As  a 
result  of  this  process  the  capitalization  of  public 
utilities  is  kept  sufficiently  large  so  that  the  divi- 
dend rate  does  not  appear  to  be  unreasonable,  and 
any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  public  to  resume 
the  franchises,  to  improve  the  service,  or  to  reduce 
prices,  is  met  by  the  cry  of  "vested  interests."  It 
is  shown  that  widows  and  orphans  have  in  good 
faith  invested  in  the  stocks  and  bonds  and  are 
receiving  only  a  fair  return  from  their  money. 
Consequently  any  movement  to  "  squeeze  the 
water  "  out  of  the  capitalization  of  public  utilities 

75 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

is  branded  as  confiscation.  The  manipulation  of 
stocks  and  bonds,  so  that  by  means  of  rings  within 
rings  a  few  persons  who  have  made  a  small  per- 
centage of  the  bona  fide  investment  in  an  enter- 
prise are  able  to  control  it  for  their  own  benefit,  is 
in  the  nature  of  things  a  crime  against  civilization, 
intolerable  to  a  free  people,  and  wholly  inconsistent 
with  the  industrial  health  of  the  community.^ 

For  these  great  evils,  which  have  become  appar- 
ent to  all  thoughtful  citizens,  several  remedies  in 
the  way  of  public  control  have  been  suggested. 
It  is  generally  agreed  that  unless  a  more  effective 
control  can  be  exercised  by  cities  over  the  grantees 
of  franchises  in  the  future  than  has  been  exercised 
in  the  past,  the  logic  of  events  will  force  municipal 
ownership  and  operation  of  public  utilities.  One 
of  the  most  popular  remedies  now  advocated  for  the 
evils  hitherto  attendant  upon  franchise  grants  is  the 
referendum,  either  optional  or  obligatory.  Those 
who  favor  this  remedy  claim  that  it  would  do 
away  at  a  single  stroke  with  practically  all  the  cor- 
ruption now  attendant  upon  the  business  of  grant- 
ing franchises,  and  would  insure  a  better  protection 
of  municipal  rights.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
urged  that  a  franchise  ordinance  is  a  technical 
business  contract,  of  which  the  people  at  large  can 
have  no  adequate  knowledge  and  upon  which  they 
are   incompetent    to   pass.     Without   denying   all 

lA  terrific  arraignment  of  public  service  corporation  finance  is 
given  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  October,  1901,  by  Mr.  R.  R.  Bow- 
ker  under  the  caption,  "The  Piracy  of  PubUc  Franchises." 

76 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

force  to  this  latter  argument,  may  we  not  contend 
that  the  optional  referendum  would  at  least  effectu- 
ally prevent  aldermanic  collusion  with  franchise- 
grabbers,  as  the  chance  of  a  suspicious  grant  being 
approved  by  the  people  would  be  shght  ?  If  fran- 
chises must  be  granted  for  a  definite  term  of  years, 
the  optional  referendum,  by  which,  upon  petition 
of  5  or  10  per  cent  of  the  electors  within  a  cer- 
tain time  after  its  passage,  a  franchise  ordinance 
would  be  submitted  to  popular  vote,  would  seem 
to  be  a  safeguard  of  great  value.  The  people  can 
easily  inform  themselves  upon  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  a  franchise  satisfactory  to  them ;  and  it 
is  the  people  who  should  be  satisfied  in  this  matter, 
as  their  rights  in  the  streets  are  paramount. 

The  National  Municipal  League  has  advocated, 
as  remedies  for  the  evils  here  under  discussion, 
the  limit  of  franchise  grants  to  a  period  not  greater 
than  twenty-one  years,  with  provision  for  the  pay- 
ment of  a  percentage  of  gross  receipts  by  the 
grantee  into  the  city  treasury. ^  The  League 
"  Program  "  suggests  safeguarding  the  city's  in- 
terests in  real  estate  and  franchises,  by  requiring 
as  a  condition  of  their  alienation  a  four-fifths  vote 
of  the  council  with  the  approval  of  the  mayor. 
Furthermore,  it  suggests  a  policy  by  which  the 
city  could  take  over  the  property  of  the  grantee 
at  the  expiration  of  the  franchise.  Still  another 
safeguard  of  the  greatest  importance  is  advocated, 

^  A  Municipal  Program^  published  by  the  Macmillan  Company, 
New  York. 

77 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

namely,  publicity  of  the  accounts  of  the  franchise- 
operator.  Publicity  of  the  accounts  of  privately 
owned  utilities  is  one  of  the  conditions  most  needed 
to  make  public  control  intelligent  and  adequate, 
and  to  render  the  inauguration  of  municipal  owner- 
ship safe.  The  city  is  always  at  a  disadvantage 
in  dealing  with  a  public-service  corporation  whose 
accounts  are  private,  and,  whatever  other  restric- 
tions may  be  placed  around  the  grant  of  franchises, 
a  strict  and  detailed  publicity  of  accounts  is  a 
necessary  part  of  any  rational  scheme  of  pubHc 
control. 

Mr.  George  C.  Sikes,  of  Chicago,  has  recently 
laid  emphasis,  in  a  clear-cut  magazine  article,  on 
the  claims  of  the  indeterminate  or  terminable  fran- 
chise as  a  means  to  adequate  public  control.^ 
This  is  the  policy  followed  by  Congress  for  the 
city  of  Washington,  and  recently  incorporated  in 
legislation  for  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippine 
Islands.  It  is  also  the  Massachusetts  poHcy,  as  I 
have  already  stated.  Its  great  advantage  is  that 
it  does  not  surrender  any  portion  of  the  govern- 
mental power  to  private  parties,  but  maintains  con- 
tinuous public  control  over  the  streets.  This 
proposition  is  perfectly  simple.  It  only  requires 
that  every  franchise  should  contain  a  clause  re- 
serving to  the  public  authorities  the  right  to  amend 
or  repeal  the  ordinance  at  any  time.  Such  an 
ordinance  would  not  impose  a  hardship  upon  any 

^  See  "The  Question  of  Franchises,"  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly, 
March,  1903,  pp.  408-415. 

78 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

person  or  company,  provided  that  the  city  would 
agree  to  take  over  the  plant  at  an  appraised  valua- 
tion in  case  of  repeal.  The  franchise-operator  is 
simply  brought  under  continuous  governmental  con- 
trol, and  the  obnoxious  system,  by  which  the  city 
contracts  away  a  part  of  its  governmental  authority, 
is  brought  to  an  end.  At  the  same  time,  where  the 
franchise  has  any  value,  the  indeterminate  grant 
leaves  the  door  open  for  a  corrupt  city  council  to 
blackmail  the  operating  company  by  constantly 
harassing  it  and  threatening  to  cancel  its  privi- 
leges. 

Another  means  of  control  sometimes  suggested 
is  the  reserved  right  to  regulate  rates,  or  to  have 
the  terms  of  the  grant  readjusted  at  the  end  of  a 
short  period.  With  an  alert  public  sentiment  and 
a  high  class  of  public  officials,  these  remedies  may 
be  effective  to  a  considerable  extent. 

Competition  as  a  regulator  of  public  utility  ser- 
vice has  not  yet  been  abandoned  altogether  in  the 
people's  dreams.  It  is  coming  to  be  generally 
recognized,  however,  that  in  the  nature  of  the 
case  public  utilities  tend  toward  monopoly,  and 
that  competition  is  short-lived,  wasteful,  and  in  the 
end  burdensome  to  the  consumers  who  are  called 
upon  to  pay  interest  on  double  capitalization  and 
maintenance  of  a  double  plant.  Competition  in 
the  street-railway  business  naturally  takes  the 
form  of  parallel  lines  in  different  streets,  while  in 
the  case  of  gas,  electric  lighting,  and  water,  it  takes 
the  form  of  parallel  pipes  and  wires  in  the  same 

79 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

streets.  The  latter  is,  of  course,  less  excusable 
than  the  former,  but  in  either  case  consolidation 
and  monopoly  are  not  long  delayed.  The  theory 
of  competition  is,  however,  sometimes  applied  with 
more  reason  in  another  way.  The  franchise  or- 
dinance is  fixed  requiring  the  performance  of  cer- 
tain conditions,  and  the  rendering  of  service  within 
a  certain  maximum  price,  and  then  offered  to  the 
bidder  who  will  pay  the  largest  lump  sum  or  the 
largest  percentage  of  gross  receipts  into  the  city 
treasury ;  or  the  compensation  to  the  city  may  be 
fixed,  and  the  franchise  sold  to  the  bidder  offering 
the  best  terms  in  the  matter  of  rates  to  consumers. 
When  a  new  and  independent  franchise  for  a  whole 
city  is  to  be  granted,  there  would  be  little  diffi- 
culty in  securing  bona  fide  competition  as  to  terms. 
But  few  cities  now  have  important  general  fran- 
chises to  grant,  and  the  companies  already  on  the 
ground  have  a  great  advantage  in  bidding  for  ex- 
tensions or  in  competing  with  a  new  company 
trying  to  operate  a  duplicate  franchise.  But 
neither  this  nor  any  other  of  the  remedies  thus 
far  discussed  can  prove  satisfactory  without  pub- 
licity of  accounts. 

A  further  suggestion  of  a  policy  short  of  com- 
plete municipal  ownership  is  often  made.  This 
is  that  the  city  should  own  the  street-railway  tracks, 
the  electric  wires  and  conduits,  and  the  water  and 
gas  pipes,  leasing  them  to  private  parties  for  actual 
use.  The  waterworks  of  Denver  are  owned  by  the 
city,  but  leased  to  a  private  company.     Bayonne, 

80 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

New  Jersey,  owns  the  distributing  system  only. 
The  gas-plant  of  Philadelphia  is  owned  by  the 
city,  and  leased  to  a  private  company.  Toledo 
owns  a  distributing  system  of  gas-pipes  which  has 
been  leased  since  the  failure  of  the  natural  gas 
supply. 

In  the  Denver  and  Philadelphia  cases,  we  have 
complete  municipal  ownership,  something  more 
than  is  usually  meant  by  the  suggestion  of  the 
municipal  ownership  of  street-railway  tracks. 
In  that  case  the  power-houses,  cars,  and  every- 
thing but  the  fixtures  in  the  street  itself  would  be 
privately  owned.  It  is  urged  that  a  street-rail- 
way track  is  in  reality  a  special  form  of  pavement, 
and  should  be  a  part  of  the  municipally  constructed 
and  municipally  owned  road-bed.^  So  far  as  theory 
is  appUcable  to  a  question  of  this  kind,  the  point 
seems  well  taken,  and  can  be  made  to  cover  the 
case  of  water  and  gas  mains,  and  electric  light  and 
power  wires  and  conduits,  though  with  somewhat 
diminished  force.  This  semi-ownership  of  public 
utilities  would  undoubtedly  be  more  easily  effective 
than  most  or  all  other  methods  of  control.  Carry- 
ing this  suggestion  a  little  farther,  we  should  have 
complete  municipal  ownership  under  private  opera- 
tion, a  system  that  is  advocated  with  much  greater 
force  in  the  case  of  street  railways  than  in  that 
of  other  local  utilities.     This  system  will  be  ap- 

1  This  is  the  view  taken  by  the  Massachusetts  Special  Committee, 
whose  valuable  report  on  street  railways  has  been  referred  to  in  a 
note  on  p.  6 1  anie. 

G  8l 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

plied  to  the  New  York  subway  when  it  is  com- 
pleted, as  it  is  already  in  the  case  of  the  Boston 
subway. 

We  come  now  to  the  simple  and  direct  remedy 
advocated  by  many  thoughtful  and  many  thought- 
less men  for  the  evils  attendant  upon  our  present 
•  franchise  system.  This  remedy  is  municipal  owner- 
ship and  operation  of  all  local  public  utilities.  All 
methods  of  control  seem  difficult  and  complex  com- 
pared with  public  ownership  and  operation.  Yet 
alert  civic  intelligence  and  rugged  official  integrity 
would  wonderfully  simplify  the  problems  of  con- 
trol, while  the  absence  of  these  conditions  won- 
derfully complicates  the  simple  remedy  of  public 
ownership.  The  chief  arguments  in  favor  of 
municipal  ownership  and  operation  are,  first,  that 
the  protection  of  the  public  interests  is  impracti- 
cable in  any  other  way ;  and,  second,  that  it  is  the 
logical  and  proper  thing  for  the  whole  people  to 
operate  the  monopolies  which  the  conditions  of 
their  life  create.  The  arguments  against  this  pol- 
icy are,  first,  that  the  prevalence  of  the  spoils 
system  and  the  inefficiency  of  city  administration 
would  render  the  operation  of  these  public  utilities 
more  burdensome  and  corrupting  than  it  is  in  pri- 
vate hands ;  and,  second,  that  it  is  clearly  outside 
the  scope  of  government  to  engage  in  such  lines 
of  business.  The  second  argument  in  either  case, 
though  in  a  sense  fundamental,  must,  nevertheless, 
yield  to  the  first  in  practical  importance. 

Let  us  consider  the  main  argument  for  municipal 
82 


THE   CONTROL  OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

ownership.  Dr.  Shaw  tells  us  that  in  Germany  this 
question  is  settled  in  each  particular  case  on  its 
merit  as  a  business  proposition  pure  and  simple.^ 
While  an  approach  to  the  German  and  English 
attitude  toward  these  problems  is  eminently  desir- 
able, we  must  remember  that,  after  all,  the  franchise 
question  transcends  for  us  the  mere  problems  of 
business  expediency,  and  touches  to  the  quick  the 
processes  of  democracy  upon  which  the  future  of 
our  cities  and  their  citizenship  depends.  Ameri- 
can cities  have  equal  manhood  suffrage,  and 
though  we  often  hear  complaints  about  the  float- 
ing vote  and  the  non-taxpaying  electors,  our  sys- 
tem is  deeply  grounded  in  the  theory  that  "a 
man's  a  man,"  and  his  personal  right  to  life  and 
free  development  is  superior  to  the  rights  of 
vested  property.  Consequently  with  us  the  fran- 
chise question  is  political,  in  the  true  sense  of  that 
word.  It  has  to  do  with  the  general  welfare  of 
citizens,  and  if  a  franchise  is  to  be  operated  by  the 
city  itself,  it  must  be  conducted  on  broad  general 
lines,  not  always  consistent  with  close  business  pol- 
icy. Public  ownership  and  operation  would  retain 
for  the  city  a  system  of  free  streets  over  which 
the  community  as  a  whole  would  have  unrestricted 
authority,  and  which  would  be  devoted  to  common 
use  without  the  intervention  of  special  privileges. 
Public  ownership  would  be  a  tribute  to  the  co- 
operative nature  of  cities.  Indeed,  city  spells 
cooperation,  and  even  under  private  management  a 

^  Municipal  Government  in  Continental  Europe,  pp.  323-328. 

83 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

public  utility  is  only  a  great  cooperative  enterprise, 
rendered  necessary  by  the  inevitable  conditions  of 
city  life.  Many  believe  that  this  cooperative  na- 
ture of  the  city  should  be  recognized  directly 
through  the  municipaUzation  of  public  utilities ; 
and  their  argument  has  great  force.  It  is  a  part 
of  the  broad  democratic  argument  for  municipali- 
zation that  the  extension  of  the  public  utility  sys- 
tems would  be  made  promptly  to  anticipate  the 
demands  of  citizens  and  give  the  city  a  symmetri- 
cal and  healthy  development.  It  is  believed  that, 
following  the  example  of  the  United  States  Post 
Office  Department,  cities  would  try  to  equalize 
conditions  and  make  the  more  profitable  parts 
of  a  street-railway  or  gas  system  support  the 
less  profitable.  One  of  the  benefits  that  ought 
certainly  to  accrue  from  municipal  ownership 
would  be  more  stable  capitalization.  With  the 
necessary  publicity  of  accounts,  municipal  bonds, 
issued  on  account  of  public  utility  enterprises, 
would  afford  an  opportunity  for  much  safer  in- 
vestments on  the  part  of  the  public  than  public 
utility  stocks  and  bonds  now  do.  This  is  no  mean 
advantage.  Finally,  cities  would  be  rid  of  the  ex- 
pensive legal  squabbles  in  which  they  now  have 
to  engage  with  franchise-holders,  and  the  forms  of 
corruption  now  well  known  would  be  inapplicable 
to  the  new  conditions.  One  important  practical 
argument  in  favor  of  public  ownership  is  the  low 
rate  of  interest  at  which  cities  can  borrow.  This 
would  tend  to  make  public  ownership  more  eco- 

84 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

nomical  than  private,  though  we  must  not  forget 
that  by  public  ownership  the  city  would  lose  the 
privilege  of  taxing  both  the  property  and  the 
franchise. 

As  against  municipal  ownership  the  most  tell- 
ing arguments  are  made  with  reference  to  the 
status  of  the  civil  service.  It  is  said  that  under 
a  political  machine,  where  positions  are  given  out 
as  rewards  for  party  or  personal  service,  a  pub- 
licly owned  utility,  especially  a  street-car  system, 
would  fall  a  victim  to  all  sorts  of  inefficiency  and 
extravagance.  It  is  believed  that  this  danger  can 
be  averted  by  the  development  of  the  merit  sys- 
tem in  municipal  administration,  and,  naturally, 
civil  service  reform  is  practically  always  a  coor- 
dinate plank  in  the  platform  of  the  municipal 
ownership  advocates.  The  people  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, in  adopting  their  new  charter  a  few  years 
ago,  declared  for  the  public  ownership  of  all  street 
utilities,  and  then  proceeded  to  establish  the  merit 
system  in  preparation  for  future  acquisition  of 
them.  Just  how  effective  the  merit  system  admin- 
istered by  its  enemiQs  could  be  kept  is  a  matter  of 
grave  doubt,  but  it  introduces  an  important  condi- 
tion in  favor  of  good  citizenship.  Nothing  can 
ever  take  the  place  of  an  alert  public  conscience, 
and  the  one  thing  most  worth  striving  for  is  the 
organization  of  government  in  such  a  way  that  the 
public  conscience  can  make  itself  felt  most  directly 
and  effectively.  Under  private  ownership  public 
utilities  are  a  corrupting  force  in  politics,  and  con- 

8s 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

versely  are  corrupted  by  politics.  Tammany  Hall 
has  been  able  at  certain  times  to  dictate  appoint- 
ments in  the  street-railway  service  of  New  York 
City. 

It  is  also  objected  to  municipal  ownership  that 
the  public  would  be  less  enterprising  in  adopting 
the  latest  improvements  than  a  private  company 
is,  thus  keeping  the  system  out  of  date  and  incon- 
veniencing the  users  of  the  utiHty.  It  may  be 
said  in  reply  that  much  of  the  enterprise  dis- 
played by  private  companies  in  adopting  the  latest 
thing  before  it  is  fully  tested  turns  up  later  in  the 
form  of  overcapitalization  to  haunt  the  unlucky 
user,  from  whose  pocket  comes  the  money  for 
operating  expenses,  interest  charges,  and  dividends. 
There  is  no  reason  for  believing  that  the  city  would 
be  less  enterprising  in  matters  for  the  advantage 
of  the  public  than  the  private  company  is. 

One  danger  lies  in  the  undoubted  tendency  to 
low  rates  under  municipal  ownership.  It  is  not 
consistent,  I  believe,  with  justice  and  the  general 
welfare  that  public  utilities  should  be  made  to  con- 
tribute to  the  support  of  the  general  government 
more  than  the  property  would  fairly  yield  in  taxes 
if  subject  to  taxation.  A  greater  contribution  in- 
volves an  unjust  consumption  tax.  Public  utility 
services  should  be  furnished  approximately  at  cost. 
But  there  is  serious  danger  of  a  tendency  to  force 
rates  below  cost,  so  that  a  public  utility  will  become 
a  burden  upon  the  tax  rolls  rather  than  a  relief  to 
them.     There  is,  indeed,  some  argument  in  favor 

S6 


THE  CONTROL  OF  PUBLIC  UTILITIES 

of  free  water  and  gas,  but  under  present  conditions 
it  is  safe,  as  a  general  policy,  to  adopt  the  rule  that 
every  public  utility  should  be  self-sustaining.  The 
groans  of  the  direct  taxpayers  would  have  in  all 
but  a  few  cities  great  influence  in  checking  the 
downward  pressure  of  rates  for  public  utility  ser- 
vices, and  consequently  this  evil  might  be  alto- 
gether imaginary'. 

The  most  serious  objection  to  municipal  owner- 
ship in  the  near  future,  aside  from  that  based  on 
the  condition  of  the  civil  service,  is  that  the  com- 
panies have  oiu-  cities  by  the  throat  and  can, 
in  many  cases,  make  municipalization  appallingly 
expensive.  When  Detroit  proposed  to  take  over 
her  street-railway  system  in  1899,  ^^^  price  tenta- 
tively agreed  upon  was  about  $17,000,000,  more 
than  half  of  which  represented  franchise  value. 
The  plan  failed  by  reason  of  a  decision  of  the 
Michigan  Supreme  Court  holding  the  act,  under 
the  provisions  of  which  Detroit  was  negotiating 
the  purchase,  unconstitutional.^  There  is  no  easy 
general  answer  to  this  objection  to  municipalization 
on  the  score  of  expensiveness.  Cities  whose  fran- 
chises are  soon  to  expire  by  definite  and  unmistak- 
able termination,  and  cities  whose  franchises  may 
be  resumed  at  any  time,  are  not  seriously  affected 
by  it.  Other  cities  can  only  bide  their  time,  rigidly 
guarding  their  interests  in  future  franchise  grants, 
and  meantime  using  all  their  reserved  or  implied 
governmental  powers  to  thwart  overcapitalization 

1  Attorney  Ge rural  vs.  Pin^ee,  I20  Mich.  550. 

87 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

plans  and  regain  by  taxation  and  regulation  as 
large  a  share  of  the  value  of  the  franchises  as 
possible.  In  every  case  where  a  company  is  known 
to  have  secured  its  rights  by  bribery  or  other  im- 
proper influences,  no  matter  how  long  ago,  a  city 
should  not  hesitate  to  use  its  powers  to  the  utmost 
to  recover  for  the  public  the  advantages  that  have 
been  bartered  away  in  the  past.  Private  property 
rights  in  the  public  streets  ought  not  to  become 
sacred  by  mere  lapse  of  time.  The  essential  rights 
of  a  free  people  are  too  nearly  involved  for  that. 

A  correct  franchise  policy,  consistent  with  de- 
mocracy, and  practicable  under  existing  conditions, 
would  involve  the  following  points  :  — 

1.  Insist  that  every  public  utility  now  owned 
and  operated  by  a  city  should  be  conducted  on 
clear-cut  principles,  and  should  render  an  unmis- 
takable public  account  of  itself. 

2.  Compel  all  public  utility  operators  dependent 
upon  special  privileges  in  the  streets,  to  make  fre- 
quent detailed  reports  of  their  financial  affairs  to 
the  city  authorities. 

3.  Secure  by  legislation,  or  by  constitutional 
amendment,  if  necessary,  the  right  to  the  city  to 
own  and  operate  all  public  utilities,  and  to  acquire 
existing  utilities  by  purchase  or  condemnation 
proceedings. 

4.  Tax  franchises  to  the  limit  of  their  value  and 
make  use  of  all  the  legitimate  powers  of  govern- 
ment to  prevent  and  correct  overcapitalization. 

5.  Make  all  new  franchises  terminable  at  any 

88 


THE   CONTROL   OF   PUBLIC   UTILITIES 

time,  reserving  the  right  of  the  city  to  purchase  the 
plant  and  general  outfit  at  an  appraised  valuation. 

6.  Give  the  electors  the  right  to  control  the 
grant  of  franchises  by  direct  vote  by  means  of  the 
optional  referendum. 

7.  Adopt  the  policy  that  whether  under  private 
control  or  under  public  management  a  franchise 
should  be  so  conditioned  as  to  have  no  monetary 
value ;  that  is  to  say,  keep  prices  down  to  the  cost 
of  service,  and  destroy  by  public  control  the  advan- 
tages of  monopoly. 

8.  Undertake  public  ownership  and  operation 
whenever,  after  full  discussion,  the  people  of  a 
city  deliberately  favor  that  policy.^ 

I  have  indicated  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  the 
open  street  is  the  most  significant  symbol  of  a  free 
city,  and  that  those  who  control  the  street  control 
the  city.  The  desideratum  of  municipal  well-be- 
ing, as  far  as  this  great  question  is  concerned,  is  for 
the  city  to  regain  speedily  and  forever  maintain  its 
governmental  control  over  all  its  streets.  Munici- 
pal ownership  is,  in  theory,  the  simple  solution. 
Yet  in  practice  the  whole  problem  is  complicated 
by  the  insufficiency  of  public  intelligence  and  the 
inertness  of  the  civic  conscience.     Freedom  is  the 

^  Probably  the  most  comprehensive  and  valuable  discussion  of 
the  problems  of  municipal  ownership  and  operation  of  franchises 
to  be  found  anywhere  in  American  print  is  contained  in  Municipal 
Affairs,  Vol.  VI,  No.  4.  This  issue  is  filled  with  the  papers  and 
addresses  presented  at  a  national  convention  on  Municipal  Owner- 
ship and  Public  Franchises  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  New  York 
Reform  Club  Committee  on  City  Affairs,  February  25-27,  1903. 

89 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

purport  of  democracy.  "A  great  city  is  that 
which  has  the  greatest  men  and  women."  Men 
cannot  be  made  free  by  ordinance.  Municipal 
ownership  will  not,  in  itself,  guarantee  to  the  people 
the  free  possession  of  the  streets.  After  the  gov- 
ernment regains  control  of  the  streets,  the  people 
must  maintain  control  of  the  government.  The 
problems  of  the  street,  like  all  other  problems  of 
democracy,  resolve  themselves  in  the  last  analysis 
into  the  problem  of  citizenship. 


90 


CHAPTER   IV 

CIVIC    EDUCATION   OR  THE  DUTY  TO  THE    FUTURE 

It  may  seem  a  far  cry  from  public  utilities  to 
civic  education.  But  we  saw,  at  the  close  of  the 
last  chapter,  how  the  questions  of  municipal  con- 
trol, ownership,  and  operation  of  franchises  resolve 
themselves  quickly  into  questions  of  human  nature 
under  city  conditions.  Now  human  nature,  though 
having  certain  comparatively  uniform  substrata,  is 
for  practical  purposes  a  variable  factor.  It  is 
clearly  changed  by  conditions  of  life  and  by  educa- 
tion. In  cities  human  nature  comes  to  the  parting 
of  the  ways ;  allowed  to  drift  along  the  lines  of 
least  resistance,  it  develops  intense  selfishness, 
disregard  of  others'  rights,  forgetfulness  of  the 
future,  and  those  other  characteristics  of  degenera- 
tion found  in  highly  civilized  society;  but,  properly 
trained,  human  nature  in  cities  develops  a  wider 
social  consciousness,  a  heartier  spirit  of  coopera- 
tion, a  more  refined  appreciation  of  the  arts  of  life, 
a  keener  sense  of  responsibility  to  the  future,  and 
all  those  other  characteristics  of  progress  that  are 
the  hope  of  evolution  and  the  justification  of  social 
effort.  It  is  the  character  of  civic  education  that 
will  determine  in  the  long  run  whether  or  not  de- 
mocracy can  succeed  in  cities.     And  so  it  is  fitting 

91 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

that  after  our  brief  consideration  of  the  problems 
of  the  street,  which  are  the  fundamental  material 
problems  of  the  city,  we  should  at  once  pass  to  the 
problems  of  civic  education  which  are  the  funda- 
mental social  problems  of  the  city. 

In  this  chapter,  therefore,  I  wish  to  discuss  the 
problems  of  civic  education,  with  the  idea  con- 
stantly in  mind  that  the  city's  children  are  the 
citizens  of  to-morrow,  who,  no  matter  how  grave 
the  problems  with  which  we  now  grapple  may  be, 
are  likely  to  have  still  graver  ones  to  solve. 

There  are  four  principal  factors  in  civic  educa- 
tion.    These  are :  — 

1.  The  common  heritage  of  civic  conditions,  civic 
habits,  and  civic  ideals. 

2.  The  home. 

3.  The  school. 

4.  The  direct  participation  of  the  children  in 
civic  functions. 

It  is  one  of  the  paradoxes  of  reform  that  no  ab- 
solute social  salvation  can  be  brought  about  unless 
the  children  can  be  reached,  while  the  only  possible 
way  to  reach  the  children  is  through  the  grown 
people.  So,  while  we  depend  ultimately  on  civic 
education  to  give  us  citizens  who  will  reform  our 
government,  we  must  confess  that  government  as 
it  exists  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  factors  in  the 
process  of  education  to  which  we  appeal.  For  ex- 
ample, in  this  matter  of  public  utilities,  which  we 
have  just  been  discussing,  there  is  nothing  else 
that  so  hinders  the  education  of  the  civic  intelli- 

92 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

gence  and  the  civic  conscience  of  the  future  along 
these  lines  as  the  bad  example  of  continued  corrup- 
tion, extravagance,  and  selfishness  of  public  officials 
and  the  operators  of  franchises.  In  New  York  un- 
der Tammany  the  government  has  often  been  a 
school  of  false  civic  ideals,  corruption,  vice,  and 
crime.  The  same  is  true  in  many  cases  elsewhere. 
On  the  other  hand,  under  a  normal  city  govern- 
ment, and  especially  under  a  progressive  one,  the 
administration  becomes  a  great  factor  in  the  culti- 
vation of  better  citizenship  through  the  example  of 
order,  efficient  service,  generous  purposes,  and  care- 
ful expenditures,  and  also  through  active  leadership 
in  the  campaign  for  health,  cleanliness,  civic  beauty, 
and  municipal  progress.  Even  more  powerful  in 
their  influence  upon  the  next  generation  are  the 
established  conditions,  habits,  and  traditions  of  the 
various  departments  of  government.  The  most 
neglected  of  all  duties  has  been  the  duty  of  the 
present  to  the  future. 

The  creation  of  enormous  debts ;  the  encum- 
bering of  the  streets  which  are  common  prop- 
erty, not  of  the  citizens  of  this  generation  alone, 
but  of  all  generations,  by  the  grant  of  long-term 
or  perpetual  franchises ;  the  construction  of  un- 
sanitary public  buildings ;  the  laying  of  leaky  water 
mains;  the  pollution  of  the  water-supply  with 
sewage;  the  formation  of  the  habit  of  black- 
mail in  the  police  force  or  of  "  grafting "  in  the 
city  council ;  the  laying  of  inferior  pavements,  — 
all  these  things,  and  many  more,  are  a  heritage  of 

93 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

tradition  that  is  handed  down  in  this  city  or  in  that 
from  year  to  year  and  from  decade  to  decade  as  a 
sort  of  surety  entered  into  by  the  present,  guar- 
anteeing that  the  future  of  the  city  administration 
shall  be  weak,  inefficient,  and  corrupt.  Fortunately, 
the  influence  of  good  habits  and  a  worthy  example 
is  also  powerful.  Colonel  Waring  was  strong 
enough  to  break  away  from  Tammany  traditions 
in  the  cleaning  of  New  York's  streets,  and  to 
establish  new  traditions  which  have  been  of  untold 
educational  value  to  his  successors.  So  it  is  with 
every  wise  and  honest  administrator. 

The  home  is  the  second  great  factor  in  civic 
education.  Under  normal  conditions  it  is  the 
universal  policy  of  free  governments  to  leave  the 
establishment  and  control  of  the  home  to  private 
citizens.  The  home  is  the  free  man's  citadel. 
Only  in  case  of  a  gross  abuse  of  domestic  privi- 
leges does  the  government  step  in  to  protect  or 
punish  its  individual  citizens.  But  in  great  cities 
the  artificial  conditions  of  life  have  tended  to  de- 
stroy the  homes  of  the  poor  altogether,  by  crowd- 
ing, unsanitary  conditions,  or  immoral  surroundings. 
Many  cities  have  been  compelled  to  take  up  the 
housing  problem,  and  go  far  beyond  the  ordinary 
scope  of  governmental  functions  to  protect  them- 
selves. This  compulsion  has  been  exerted  chiefly 
by  the  necessity  of  the  home  as  an  instrument  of 
civic  education.  It  is  our  theory  that  babies  will  be 
born  and  their  health  and  morals  fairly  well  cared 
for  in  the  average  family  where  the  physical  sur- 

94 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

roundings  make  health  and  morality  possible. 
But  the  product  of  the  tenement-house,  the  sweat- 
shop, and  the  slum  has  proven  itself  such  a  dan- 
gerous factor  in  our  citizenship,  that  we  have  been 
compelled  to  take  hold  of  these  inferior  homes 
with  the  strong  arm  of  the  law  and  insist  on  their 
betterment. 

I  have  already  said  something  of  the  history  of 
the  tenement-house  problem  in  New  York  in  con- 
nection with  the  discussion  of  transportation 
facilities  in  a  preceding  chapter.^  The  relation  of 
transportation  to  housing  is  one  of  the  things  that 
gives  a  great  city  Hke  New  York  or  London  its 
supreme  interest  in  the  street-railway  system.  In 
a  somewhat  less  degree  good  housing  is  dependent 
upon  cheap  water  and  light  furnished  by  the 
public,  and  good  plumbing  and  ventilation  guar- 
anteed by  the  civic  authorities. 

New  York  has  finally  found  its  tenement-house 
problem  so  important  that  the  city  has  established 
a  separate  administrative  department  to  inspect 
tenements  and  enforce  the  laws  governing  their 
construction  and  management.  New  York  has 
condemned  and  torn  down  some  old  tenements  that 
were  unfit  for  human  habitation,  and  has  cleared 
out  whole  blocks  in  a  number  of  places  for  the 
construction  of  parks,  but  no  American  city  has 
gone  so  far  as  to  copy  the  British  cities  in  estabhsh- 
ing  municipal  model  tenement-houses.  Thus  far 
our  cities  have  for  the  most  part  confined  their 

1  Ante,  pp.  35-44. 

95 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

official  effort,  first,  to  the  control  of  the  construction 
of  these  buildings  to  the  end  that  every  apartment 
should  be  safe  from  fire,  well  lighted  and  ventilated, 
and  fitted  up  with  sufficient  plumbing  to  make  it 
habitable,  and  second,  to  the  enforcement  of  certain 
sanitary  rules  in  the  use  of  tenement-houses. 

New  York  is  far  in  the  lead  of  other  American 
cities  so  far  as  official  effort  to  improve  housing 
conditions  is  concerned.  This  is  because  conges- 
tion in  New  York  is  extreme.  In  New  York  over 
two  million  people,  according  to  the  estimate  of  the 
last  Tenement  House  Commission,  have  so  little 
control  over  the  sanitary  and  other  essential  con- 
ditions of  their  home  life  that  they  are  dependent 
upon  the  city  for  special  protection  from  the 
ignorance  and  greed  of  their  landlords  and  fellow- 
citizens  in  the  mere  matter  of  housing.  In  other 
American  cities  the  proportion  of  separate  homes 
is  much  greater,  and  in  many,  such  as  Detroit, 
Cleveland,  and  Minneapolis,  there  is  no  general 
housing  problem  of  sufficient  importance  to  de- 
mand direct  municipal  interference.  Of  course,  in 
every  city  the  authorities  often  interfere  to  abate 
unsanitary  conditions  when  they  become  a  menace 
to  the  general  health. 

The  tendency  is  to  postpone  action  too  long. 
Every  city  of  considerable  size  ought  to  pay  some 
attention  to  housing  by  controlling  public  utilities, 
improving  domestic  sanitation,  and  providing  open 
spaces,  to  the  end  that  the  conditions  favoring 
separate  homes  with  abundant  room  and   plenty 

96 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

of  light  and  air  shall  be  maintained.  This  is  an 
altogether  necessary  function  of  city  government, 
and  is  a  part  of  the  program  of  civic  education. 
The  home  cannot  start  the  young  citizens  right 
without  this  fundamental  guarantee.  The  housing 
problem,  while  it  has  an  important  sanitary  aspect 
in  connection  with  the  protection  of  adult  life  from 
disease,  is  primarily  a  problem  of  guaranteeing 
homes  in  which  children  may  be  safely  born  and 
nurtured.  In  a  broad  sense  the  provision  of  good 
homes  is  as  clearly  a  problem  of  civic  education  as 
is  the  provision  of  schoolhouses.  In  fact  the  homes 
are  the  first  schoolhouses  of  the  city's  children. 

But  the  main  instrument  of  civic  education,  the 
institution  to  which  all  American  cities  look  for 
the  training  of  their  future  citizens  and  for  the 
fusing  of  conflicting  race  habits  and  race  interests 
into  a  common  Americanism,  is  the  public  school. 
We  must,  therefore,  consider  at  some  length  the 
nature  of  this  institution  and  its  particular  relations 
to  civic  life. 

It  is  beginning  to  be  understood  in  the  educa- 
tional world  that  all  school  training  must  adapt 
itself  to  the  background  of  life  which  the  children 
live,  and  too  slowly  we  are  coming  to  see  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  marvellous  change  in  that  back- 
ground of  life  which  has  come  over  the  modern 
world  through  the  instrumentality  of  what  is  called 
industrial  progress.  The  city  has  a  peculiar  edu- 
cational problem,  and  the  difficulty  of  this  problem 
increases  with  the  size  and  age  of  cities.  Probably 
H  97 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

the  majority  of  men  and  women  in  the  big  cities  of 
the  United  States  are  still  country  born  or  village 
born.  For  this  reason  they  are  slow  to  realize  the 
purport  of  the  educational  progress  of  the  day. 
"  Were  not  the  old  methods  good  enough  for  us  ? " 
they  ask,  and  forget  that  their  children,  born  and 
bred  in  the  midst  of  city  conditions,  have  a  very 
different  and  often  a  very  precarious  foundation 
for  an  education. 

Professor  John  Dewey  has  described  this  change 
of  conditions  so  interestingly  that  I  can  do  no  bet- 
ter than  to  quote  his  words.  He  calls  attention  to 
the  characteristics  of  the  household  and  neighbor- 
hood system  as  it  existed  prior  to  the  industrial 
revolution  of  quite  recent  times.  "  The  entire  in- 
dustrial process,"  he  says,  ''  stood  revealed,  from 
the  production  on  the  farm  of  the  raw  materials, 
till  the  finished  article  was  actually  put  in  use. 
Not  only  this,  but  practically  every  member  of  the 
household  had  his  own  share  in  the  work.  The 
children,  as  they  gained  in  strength  and  capacity, 
were  gradually  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the 
several  processes.  It  was  a  matter  of  immediate 
and  personal  concern,  even  to  the  point  of  actual 
participation.  We  cannot  overlook  the  factors  of 
discipline  and  of  character-building  involved  in  this  ; 
training  in  habits  of  order  and  of  industry,  and  in 
the  idea  of  responsibility,  of  obligation  to  do  some- 
thing, to  produce  something,  in  the  world.  .  .  . 
Again  we  cannot  overlook  the  importance  for  educa- 
tional purposes  of  the  close  and  intimate  acquaint- 

98 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

ance  got  with  nature  at  first  hand,  with  real  things 
and  materials,  with  the  actual  processes  of  their  ma- 
nipulation, and  the  knowledge  of  their  social  neces- 
sities and  uses.  In  all  this  there  was  continual 
training  of  observation,  of  ingenuity,  constructive 
imagination,  of  logical  thought  and  of  the  sense  of 
reality  acquired  through  first-hand  contact  with 
actualities.  The  educative  forces  of  the  domestic 
spinning  and  weaving,  of  the  saw-mill,  the  grist- 
mill, the  cooper  shop,  and  the  blacksmith  forge 
were  continuously  operative.  No  number  of  object 
lessons,  got  up  as  object  lessons  for  the  sake  of 
giving  information,  can  afford  even  the  shadow  of 
a  substitute  for  acquaintance  with  the  plants  and 
animals  of  the  farm  and  garden,  acquired  through 
actual  living  among  them  and  caring  for  them. 
No  training  of  sense-organs  in  school,  introduced 
for  the  sake  of  training,  can  begin  to  compete  with 
the  alertness  and  fulness  of  sense  Hfe  that  comes 
through  daily  intimacy  and  interest  in  familiar 
occupations.  Verbal  memory  can  be  trained  in 
committing  tasks,  a  certain  discipline  of  the  reason- 
ing powers  can  be  acquired  through  lessons  in 
science  and  mathematics ;  but,  after  all,  this  is 
somewhat  remote  and  shadowy  compared  with  the 
training  of  attention  and  of  judgment  that  is  re- 
quired in  having  to  do  things  with  a  real  motive 
behind  and  a  real  outcome  ahead."  ^ 

In  other  words,  the  city  educator  awakes  some 
fine   morning  to  find  the   foundation   of   training 

^  The  School  and  Society,  pp.  23-25. 
99 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

missing  in  his  pupils;  they  have  no  "vital  experi- 
ence." They  are  unreal  children.  They  have 
been  nursed  in  the  lap  of  urban  idleness  till  they 
are  little  better  than  house-pets,  —  or  perhaps  they 
have  been  cast  off  from  the  flywheel  of  the  great, 
merciless  machine  of  industrial  life,  and  stand 
bruised,  and  pinched,  and  scared  in  the  neglected 
corners  of  the  community's  workshop.  In  either 
case  they  are  sorry  materials  for  the  school.  The 
city  that  follows  the  line  of  least  resistance  in  its 
development  soon  becomes  an  unfit  place  for  the 
birth  and  rearing  of  children.  It  is  only  by  a 
costly  and  stubborn  resistance  to  the  stifling  ten- 
dencies of  city  life  that  children  can  be  made  ready 
for  education.  The  superstructure  of  modern 
education  can  be  safely  built  on  the  foundations  of 
city  child  life  only  by  arduous  and  patient  prepara- 
tion of  the  substructure.  That  portion  of  New 
York  City  which  is  built  on  Manhattan  Island  has 
for  the  most  part  a  foundation  of  rock,  so  that  the 
problem  of  constructing  the  enormous  modern 
office  buildings  is  there  almost  wholly  a  problem  of 
superstructure.  In  Chicago,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
is  only  with  infinite  labor  that  a  safe  foundation 
can  be  prepared  for  a  skyscraper.  Piles  must  be 
driven  deep  into  the  unresisting  soil  and  elaborate 
artificial  foundations  constructed,  and  even  then 
a  fear  is  sometimes  expressed  that  the  towering 
superstructure  will  some  day  collapse  by  reason  of 
the  shifting  of  its  underpinning.  Similar  is  the 
problem  of  the  education  of  city  children.     Yet  we 

lOO 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

must  not  exaggerate.  It  is  true  that  these  extreme 
conditions  exist  principally  in  the  largest  cities, 
and  are  more  acute  among  the  rich  than  among 
the  poor,  the  very  poorest  being  excepted.  The 
main  contention  here  is  that  these  conditions  are 
the  natural  outcome  of  unregulated  city  growth. 
The  child  is  a  problem  that  the  city  cannot  safely 
ignore.  The  city  must  find  room  in  its  program 
of  production  for  the  process  of  reproduction. 

The  conditions  of  life  in  cities  are  reacting  upon 
the  school  itself.  The  kindergarten,  which,  within 
the  past  decade  or  two,  has  established  itself  as  an 
integral  part  of  the  city  school  system,  though 
based  on  a  general  theory  of  education,  is  in  effect 
an  effort  to  supply  very  young  children  with  that 
background  of  experience  which  is  the  best  foun- 
dation of  education,  and  which  is  often  lamentably 
lacking  in  city  children,  and  to  develop  the  coop- 
erative spirit  which  alone  can  soften  the  asperities 
of  civilization,  usher  in  the  new  human  nature,  and 
make  a  nation's  cities  the  crowning  glory  of  its 
development.  Already  the  conviction  is  growing 
that  the  teacher  who  receives  the  children  first 
from  their  several  homes,  so  widely  different  in 
their  ideals,  their  conditions,  and  their  attitudes 
toward  society,  and  who  gives  these  untrained 
embryo  citizens  their  first  lessons  in  social  coop- 
eration on  a  large  scale  and  first  brings  them  under 
the  law  of  the  state,  should  be  a  teacher  with 
special  gifts  and  extraordinary  training.  The 
kindergarten  stands  for  the  introduction  of  child 

lOI 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

life  into  the  fairy-land  of  nature  and  human  his- 
tory, for  the  introduction  of  this  eager,  expanding 
intelligence  of  the  child  to  an  ideal  system  of  social 
life,  a  sort  of  Utopian  existence  which  we  all  be- 
lieve to  be  possible  on  condition  that  our  fellows 
are  willing  to  join  with  us  in  obedience  to  the 
higher  law.  A  clean,  well-lighted  schoolroom,  with 
plants  and  pictures  and  materials  for  work  and 
play,  under  the  guidance  of  a  teacher  whose  busi- 
ness it  is  to  be  always  kind  and  to  organize  the 
little  society  according  to  the  law  of  love,  is  a  place 
of  delight  and  freedom,  a  real  heaven  to  countless 
children  emerging  from  babyhood,  who  need,  above 
all  things,  to  be  better  prepared  for  citizenship  and 
civic  cooperation  than  their  fathers  and  mothers 
were  before  them. 

The  introduction  of  manual  training  into  the 
public  schools,  which  has  only  just  begun,  is 
another  and  even  more  marked  indication  of  the 
reaction  of  city  conditions  upon  the  school  itself. 
In  manual  training  we  have  a  definite,  conscious 
effort  to  supply  in  the  schools  those  elements  of 
education  which,  in  country  and  village,  boys  and 
girls  ordinarily  get  in  a  more  or  less  imperfect  way 
at  home  and  in  their  neighborhood  associations. 
Girls  are  taught  cooking  and  sewing,  because,  in 
cities,  they  do  not  generally  learn  these  things  at 
home.  For  the  same  reason  boys  are  taught  to 
drive  nails,  to  carve,  to  draw,  to  make  things. 
This  kind  of  work  adds  zest  to  the  school,  gives 
the  children  useful  power,  and  supplies  that  funda- 

I02 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

mental  training  in  the  use  of  the  hand  and  eye 
which  plays  an  essential  part  in  the  education  of 
men  and  women.  Indeed,  manual  training  aims 
to  do  more  than  replace  the  lost  experiences  of 
country  life.  It  aims  to  give  the  children  the 
benefit  of  skilled  instruction,  so  that  they  shall  be 
better  prepared  for  the  work  of  the  world  than 
if  they  were  self-educated  or  trained  by  their 
parents  only.  There  has  been  a  tendency  to 
introduce  manual  training  in  high  schools  first, 
on  the  theory  that  the  well-grown  boys  and  girls 
should  have  some  practical  preparation  for  adult 
life  upon  which  they  are  about  to  enter.  The 
significance  of  manual  training  as  a  fundamental 
part  of  the  whole  process  of  education  is  beginning 
to  be  dimly  recognized.  Of  course,  if  the  training 
of  the  hand  and  the  participation  in  useful,  pro- 
ductive enterprises  form  the  best  basis  for  the 
training  of  the  mind,  city  schools  will  have  to  put 
manual  training  into  all  the  grades  from  the  first  up. 
It  seems  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  time  and 
effort  required  for  this  will  be  more  than  saved  in 
the  keener  interest  and  the  quickened  intelHgence 
of  pupils. 

One  of  the  principal  functions  of  the  kinder- 
garten is  to  furnish  the  children  that  background 
of  contact  with  nature  which  the  country  child  gets 
in  its  play  and  its  explorations  of  its  widening 
world.  Manual  training  goes  a  step  farther,  and 
supplies  for  city  children  that  discipline  in  the 
doing  of  useful  things  which  forms  the  link  between 

103 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

the  play-world  of  childhood  and  the  work-world 
of  manhood  and  womanhood ;  and  in  proportion 
as  this  transition  is  intelligently  made,  the  play- 
instinct  of  the  child  flows  forward  into  the  work- 
manship of  the  adult  and  transforms  the  drudgery 
of  life  into  willing  or  even  enthusiastic  participa- 
tion in  the  work  of  the  world.  "The  world  in 
which  most  of  us  live  is  a  world  in  which  every 
one  has  a  calling  and  occupation,  something  to  do. 
Some  are  managers  and  others  are  subordinates. 
But  the  great  thing  for  one  as  for  the  other  is  that 
each  shall  have  had  the  education  which  enables 
him  to  see  within  his  daily  work  all  there  is  in  it 
of  large  and  human  significance."  ^  This  certainly 
cannot  be  accomplished  by  introducing  the  training 
of  the  hand  as  an  appendix  to  the  training  of  the 
mind.  That  is  a  reversal  of  the  laws  of  education, 
and  can  only  result  in  the  waste  of  years  of  educa- 
tional effort  and  the  definite  dismissal  of  the  play- 
spirit  from  the  activities  of  adult  life. 

The  manual  training  department  carries  on  for 
the  most  part  only  one  side  of  the  special  work 
undertaken  by  the  kindergarten.  The  other  side, 
the  training  in  citizenship,  in  free  social  organiza- 
tion, in  democracy,  is  sadly  neglected  by  the  aver- 
age public  school.  Even  so  far  as  the  curriculum 
goes,  the  public  school  is  inexcusably  deficient  in 
matters  relating  directly  to  civic  life.  Civics,  like 
manual  training,  is  not  taken  up  before  the  upper 

1  Professor  John  Dewey,  op.  cit.,  p.  38. 
104 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

grades  or  the  high  school  is  reached.  So  far  as 
the  spirit  of  the  schools  is  concerned  and  the  prac- 
tical ideals  lived  out  by  them,  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
the  average  school  is  not  altogether  conducive  to 
the  development  of  self-control  and  social  coopera- 
tion. The  teacher  is  a  despot,  though  perhaps  a 
kindly  one ;  discipline  is  of  the  military  order, 
though  less  severe ;  and  the  motives  to  which 
appeal  is  made  are  often  the  motives  of  selfish 
rivalry.  The  pupil  who  gives  or  receives  help  at 
a  task  is  a  cheat,  and  the  one  who  communi- 
cates with  another  in  school  time  is  an  offender. 
It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  an  ideal  of  social 
democracy  will  be  soon  realized  in  which  the  spirit 
of  rivalry  will  be  eliminated.  But  democracy  is 
possible  only  through  cooperation  and  mutual  help, 
and  it  seems  foolish  and  dangerous  to  emphasize 
that  competitive  spirit  by  which  one's  gain  is  con- 
sidered another's  loss.  The  difference  between  the 
competitive  ideal  of  success  and  the  democratic  ideal 
has  been  admirably  expressed  by  Dr.  Howerth  of 
Chicago  in  one  of  his  university  extension  lectures 
by  a  contrast  between  the  desire  "  to  get  on  in  the 
world "  and  the  desire  "  to  get  the  world  on." 
There  is  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  that  the  real 
success  of  the  race  involves  the  cultivation  of  the 
latter  ideal  rather  than  the  former,  and  there  is  no 
place  where  the  future  speaks  so  forcefully  as  in 
the  school.  The  school  ought  therefore  to  set 
before  itself,  as  working  ideals,  the  realization 
of  which  will  measure  its  success  as  an  educa- 
105 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

tional  force,  —  first,  self-government,  and  second, 
social  cooperation. 

The  idea  of  self-government  in  the  schools  has 
been  prominently  advocated  in  recent  years  by 
Mr.  Wilson  L.  Gill>  of  the  Patriotic  League,  who 
sees  in  the  organization  of  school  cities  a  most 
effective  means  for  teaching  by  precept  and  prac- 
tice the  civic  duties  for  which  so  few  citizens  are 
prepared  when  they  graduate  from  the  school. 
Mr.  Gill  would  have  the  pupils  of  a  city  school 
organized  on  the  plan  of  the  city  government, 
with  a  mayor  and  council,  city  courts,  a  police 
force,  a  health  of^cer,  and  all  the  other  necessary 
city  officials.  So  organized,  the  children  would 
establish  their  own  rules  and  practically  take 
charge  of  the  discipline  of  the  school.  This  plan 
has  been  tried  in  some  schools  with  success,  and 
has  been  commended  by  no  less  an  authority  on 
municipal  government  than  Dr.  Albert  Shaw,  in 
an  article  in  his  own  magazine,  the  American 
Monthly  Review  of  Reviews} 

The  greatest  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  success 
of  this  plan  is  ignorant  teachers.  Very  few  public 
school  teachers  are  sufficiently  intelligent  in  practi- 
cal civic  organization  to  be  able  to  inaugurate  the 
self-government  system.  Perhaps  this  may  be 
partly  due  to  the  fact  that  most  teachers  are 
women  and  have  no  voice  in  political  affairs  in 
most  of  the  states.  But  the  main  reason  is  that  an 
imperfect  idea  of  school  government  prevails,  and 

1  In  issue  for  December,  1899. 
106 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

for  the  average  teacher  it  is  easier  to  govern  a 
school  than  to  show  the  school  how  to  govern 
itself.  Here,  as  everywhere,  the  crying  need  is  for 
better  teachers,  not  necessarily  for  teachers  with 
more  learning  or  greater  preparation,  but  for 
teachers  more  closely  in  touch  with  practical  life, 
and  with  a  clearer  view  of  the  function  of  the 
school  in  the  improvement  of  human  nature  and 
the  realization  of  higher  ideals  in  the  activities  of 
the  world. 

The  public  school  is,  in  idea,  the  chief  instru- 
ment of  American  democracy.  In  it  the  children 
of  different  social  classes  and  of  many  races  are 
brought  to  a  common  level  and  fused  into  a  com- 
munity of  American  citizens.  It  is  often  stated 
that  the  child  repeats  in  his  development  the 
various  stages  of  race  history.  Certain  it  is  that 
men  are  not  born  free,  that  races  and  nations  attain 
freedom  only  after  long-continued  struggles  with 
themselves.  Freedom,  the  Hfe  of  democracy,  can- 
not be  given  out  of  hand.  And  so,  while  self- 
government  is  the  end  toward  which  education 
must  lead,  the  teacher  should  not  forget  to  keep  a 
protectorate  over  his  newly  enfranchised  pupils. 
The  children  must  learn  by  experiment  "  that  self- 
government  brings  out  the  true  character  of  a 
person  ;  that  it  teaches  the  real  meaning  of  liberty 
and  develops  self-control,  uprightness,  and  a  sense 
of  honor." 

Largely  as  the  result  of  the  changed  industrial 
conditions  already   referred  to,  the  city  school  is 

107 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

coming  to  supersede  the  home  in  many  of  the 
educational  functions.  Many  teachers  lament  the 
increasing  dependence  of  the  child  upon  the  school, 
but  this  is  probably  a  natural  and  inevitable  conse- 
quence of  the  conditions  of  city  life  which  make 
the  children,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  to  a  greater 
and  greater  extent,  wards  of  the  community.  The 
city  becomes  one  great  household,  in  which  the 
general  conditions  tend  to  override  the  particular 
conditions  of  individual  homes.  This  is  especially 
true  in  America  on  account  of  the  vast  population 
of  foreigners  found  in  all  large  American  cities. 
Foreign-born  parents,  unaccustomed  to  American 
ideas  and  American  institutions,  remain  to  a  great 
extent  an  alien  element  in  a  city's  life,  until,  by  a 
reversal  of  the  natural  order,  they  are  led  by  their 
children  into  American  ways  and  instructed  by 
them  in  American  ideals.  This  work  of  assimila- 
tion falls  almost  entirely  upon  the  school  in  the 
first  instance,  and  in  this  way  its  burden  and  re- 
sponsibility are  doubled.  The  school,  in  this  case, 
does  not  carry  on  the  work  already  begun  by  the 
homes,  but  rather  sets  about  to  overcome  home  in- 
fluences and  react  upon  and  change  the  home 
itself.  This  fact  alone  magnifies  the  public  school 
in  the  American  city  until  it  becomes  our  chief 
institution,  the  mainstay  of  our  national  life,  the 
David  that  must  slay  the  Goliath  of  ignorance,  race 
prejudice,  and  social  anarchy.  It  is  noticeable  that 
the  American-born  children  of  foreign-born  parents 
are   the   most   lawless   class    in    our    population, 

io8 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

Doubtless  this  is  the  result  of  the  conditions  just 
described  by  which  these  children  are  largely  freed 
from  the  conservative  influences  of  their  homes, 
and  made  the  teachers  of  their  parents.  It  is 
much  more  important,  therefore,  that  the  school 
should  exert  a  powerful  and  altogether  good  influ- 
ence over  this  transition  generation.  Obligation 
follows  opportunity,  and  in  this  case  the  public 
school  is  in  duty  bound  to  raise  its  ideals  and  step 
boldly  into  the  field  of  ethical  and  civic  instruction, 
—  for  in  a  free  country  ethical  ideals  are  the  bone 
and  sinew  of  citizenship. 

The  school  curriculum  should  give  a  more  im- 
portant place  to  the  study  of  municipal  sociology. 
The  city  is  the  great  household  of  which  the  school 
is  the  nursery.  An  exceedingly  interesting  "  out- 
line for  social  and  historical  study  "  in  the  Chicago 
schools  has  come  into  my  hands.^  The  general 
aim  for  both  history  and  civics,  as  described  in  this 
outline,  is  to  help  the  child  realize  the  outline  course 
of  human  development  .from  the  hunter  stage  to 
the  complex  industrial  civilization  of  to-day,  and  to 
see  that  this  country  of  ours  has  been  developed 
from  a  barbaric  wilderness  to  its  present  condition 
by  dint  of  hard  work  and  continual  struggle,  and 
that  we  have  our  part  to  play  in  the  strenuous  life 
of  the  nation  just  as  our  fathers  and  mothers  had 
theirs.  The  method  of  instruction  is  suggested  by 
the  statement  that  "  human  history  is  man  in  pro- 

1  The  outline  referred  to  was  prepared  by  Mr.  H.  W.  Thurston, 
of  the  Chicago  Normal  School. 

109 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

cess  of  becoming  other  than  he  was,  man  thinking 
and  doing  things,"  and  "  the  child  is  also  a  thinker 
and  doer."  Special  suggestions  are  made  for 
studies  in  civics  in  the  several  grades.  For  the 
first  grade  certain  picturesque  figures  and  incidents 
of  civic  life  are  chosen  for  study  —  the  lamplighter, 
the  garbage  man,  the  postman,  the  street-sprinkler, 
the  policeman,  the  contagious-disease  card,  the 
park,  and  so  on.  The  study  of  the  fire  depart- 
ment of  Chicago  and  its  history,  and  of  the  water 
department,  including  the  way  the  water  is  pumped 
and  distributed,  and  the  history  of  the  water  tunnels, 
the  drainage,  building  regulations,  the  school  play- 
grounds, baths,  and  libraries,  are  among  the  topics 
suggested  for  study  in  the  higher  grades.  The 
mere  perusal  of  this  tentative  outline  for  study 
shows  one  how  simple  and  how  fascinating  civics, 
properly  taught,  would  prove,  even  to  young 
children,  and  it  is  only  in  some  such  way  as  this 
that  the  school  can  prepare  a  generation  of  citi- 
zens who  love  their  city  and  understand  it. 

It  is  clear  that  from  the  purely  civic  standpoint 
the  greatest  educational  problem  is  to  prepare  such 
conditions  of  child  life  that  the  physical  and  mental 
foundations  for  education  may  be  successfully  laid. 
Many  persons  who  see  clearly  the  painful  futility 
of  the  efforts  made  to  destroy  vice  and  crime  by 
punishing  individuals  after  they  become  vicious  or 
criminal  are  earnest  advocates  of  small  parks  and 
children's  playgrounds  as  the  most  effective  check 
upon  the  growth  of  social  disorder.  The  move- 
no 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

ment  for  the  establishment  of  parks  and  play- 
grounds for  children  has  made  rapid  strides  in 
American  cities  during  the  last  few  years.  Out  of 
439  cities,  having  a  population  of  more  than  10,000, 
there  were  reported  to  the  Municipal  Year  Book^ 
at  the  beginning  of  1902,  as  many  as  yZ  that  had 
children's  playgrounds,  and  the  movement  has 
been  spreading  since  that  time.  The  distribution 
of  the  cities  having  playgrounds,  according  to 
sections  of  the  country,  was  as  follows :  — 


SECTION 

NUMBER  OF  CITIES 
WITH  10,000  POPU- 
LATION NOT  HAV- 
ING PLAYGROUNDS 

NUMBER  OF 
CITIES  WITH 

10,000  POPULA- 
TION HAVING 

PLAYGROUNDS 

New  England  .... 
New   York,   New  Jersey, 

and  Pennsylvania  .  . 
Southern  States  .  .  . 
North    Central    States   to 

the  Rocky  Mountains  . 
Mountain      and      Pacific 

Coast  States  .... 

56 

88 
75 

118 

24 

26 

18 
8 

24 

2 

Whole  United  States  .     . 

361 

78 

This  table  shows  that  New  England  is  true  to 
its  traditions,  and  leads  in  this  phase  of  educational 
work  as  well  as  in  other  things.  The  most  dis- 
couraging feature  of  the  case  is  that  only  10  of  the 
38  cities  having  100,000  population  reported 
playgrounds.      The    main    difficulty    lies    in    the 


III 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

fact  that  abundant  artificial  provision  for  chil- 
dren's recreation  and  physical  culture  is  very 
expensive  in  a  large  city.  The  need  increases  at 
an  accelerating  rate,  and  while  the  laggard  tax- 
payers are  putting  off  improvements  till  they  be- 
come more  urgent  and  more  expensive,  the  public 
coffers  are  drained  more  and  more  deeply  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  largely  ineffective  and  often 
corrupting  machinery  of  the  police  department. 
There  is  absolutely  nothing  in  the  general  condi- 
tion of  pubUc  sentiment  or  the  general  status  of 
public  works  in  American  cities  to  give  a  crumb  of 
comfort  to  any  citizen  who  is  not  himself  doing  his 
very  best  to  bring  about  better  civic  conditions. 
The  playground  movement  offers  encouragement 
for  those  who  are  looking  for  ways  to  accomplish 
something  on  behalf  of  the  public.  It  is  an  oppor- 
tunity for  effective  civic  effort. 

The  idea  of  the  municipal  playground  is  to  get 
children  off  the  streets,  to  direct  their  play  along 
the  most  approved  physical-culture  lines,  and  to 
develop  their  capacities  through  orderly  and  ani- 
mated group  activities.  The  playground  is  almost 
an  out-of-door  gymnasium.  It  is  often,  if  not  gen- 
erally, situated  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  school 
building,  often  upon  the  school  grounds.  It  is  not 
a  ready-made  solution  for  all  the  problems  of  city 
child  life,  for  it  necessitates  an  increased  amount 
of  control  and  direction,  which  in  themselves  tend 
to  decrease  its  popularity  and  make  its  success 
more  difficult.     Supervision  tends  to  rob  play  of 

112 


CIVIC    EDUCATION 

many  of  its  charms,  and  to  diminish  the  effective 
disciphne  of  juvenile  initiative  and  enterprise. 
The  out-of-door  gymnasium  is  somewhat  artificial, 
and  the  apparatus  needs  constant  changing  in 
order  not  to  pall  upon  the  children  who  have  been 
used  to  the  life  of  the  street  and  the  vacant  lot. 

The  justification  of  the  playground  in  closely 
built  cities  is  easy,  however.  It  requires  no  argu- 
ment to  show  that  in  such  cities  the  public  authori- 
ties should  provide  clear  spaces  in  which  child  life 
may  find  expression  in  the  open  air  without  the 
dangers  of  the  street.  This,  however,  is  merely  a 
sanitary  problem,  one  of  the  functions  of  city  gov- 
ernment that  must  be  classed  as  protective  along 
with  the  police  and  fire  protection.  The  justifica- 
tion of  the  playground  in  cities  where  there  are 
plenty  of  parks  and  vacant  lots  is  another  and 
perhaps  even  more  important  matter  for  our  con- 
sideration. One  of  the  conditions  of  life  in  cities 
is  the  necessity  for  more  detailed  social  regulation 
and  more  extensive  cooperation.  It  is  a  part  of 
the  city's  educational  problem  to  prepare  the  chil- 
dren in  all  possible  ways  for  urban  life.  This  is 
more  or  less  artificial,  and  necessitates  a  gradual 
change  in  human  nature.  When  this  change  is 
left  to  neglected  conditions,  to  the  natural  stress 
and  strain  of  an  intensifying  city  civilization,  it  is 
likely  to  show  itself  along  with  decreased  vitality 
and  to  represent  degeneration  rather  than  develop- 
ment. It  is  the  function  of  the  municipal  play- 
ground to  extend  the  influence  of   the  conscious 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

educational  forces  beyond  the  schoolroom  into  the 
very  heart  of  the  child's  life  and  help  him  adapt 
himself  to  city  conditions  without  loss  of  physical 
vigor  or  mental  stamina.  The  municipal  playground 
will  not  run  itself.  It  demands  as  high  a  degree 
of  educational  power  in  its  control  as  the  school- 
room, and  points  to  an  expansion  of  educational 
ideals  and  educational  functions  that  will  tend  to 
revivify  the  Hellenic  conception  of  civilized  life. 
Without  something  of  this  sort,  civilization,  under 
the  tense  conditions  of  modern  industrial  progress, 
would  become  mere  race  debauchery. 

Along  with  the  playground  movement  goes  the 
establishment  of  vacation  schools.  In  a  city  where 
children  are  kept  out  of  factory  work  by  law,  and 
where  there  are  no  gardens  or  workshops  at  home 
to  employ  their  energies,  a  three  months'  vacation 
in  the  summer  means  three  months'  training  in  the 
vices  of  the  street,  —  idleness,  impudence,  and 
destructiveness.  Where  children  can  be  sent  to 
the  country  to  work  on  farms  during  the  summer, 
they  are  most  fortunate,  provided  only  that  they 
are  put  under  suitable  control  and  have  suitable 
associations.  These  conditions  are  seldom  fulfilled 
save  in  the  case  of  children  who  have  relatives 
living  in  the  country.  The  great  mass  of  those 
who  would  be  most  benefited  by  farm  life  during 
the  summer  months  cannot  be  properly  placed, 
and  they  must  fall  back,  a  few  of  them  upon  the 
idleness  of  the  watering  places,  but  the  large  ma- 
jority upon  the  restless,  aimless  life  of  the  city 
114 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

street.  For  this  reason  vacation  schools  are 
proving  to  be  a  necessity  in  large  cities,  and  hap- 
pily they  are  being  devoted  almost  exclusively  to 
kindergarten  and  manual-training  work. 

The  vacation  school  opens  the  door  for  progress 
in  educational  methods.  With  its  greater  freedom 
through  its  alliance  with  the  playground,  it  is  in  a 
position  to  become  the  experimental  section  of  the 
school  system.  There  is  reason  to  believe  with 
Superintendent  Preston  W.  Search,  that  every 
city  school  ought  to  be  a  juvenile  agricultural  col- 
lege, surrounded  with  gardens  and  playgrounds, 
where  the  city  child  could  get  in  an  effective 
way  the  responsible  contact  with  nature  and  the 
soil  which  seems  to  be  the  natural  and  necessary 
thing  for  all  children. ^  School  gardens  have 
already  been  established  in  connection  with  some 
city  schools  and  the  planting  of  shrubbery  begun. 
Without  the  vacation  school  all  these  movements 
must  partially  fail,  because  the  summer  months  are 
the  time  for  gardening,  the  care  of  shrubs,  and  the 
exploitation  of  nature.^ 

The  vacation  school  offers  the  opportunity  for 
effective  instruction  in  physiology  and  training 
in  hygiene.  School  baths  have  been  estabhshed 
in   New  York  and  some   smaller  cities,  and   are 

1  An  Ideal  School,  pp.  74-103. 

2  For  a  most  interesting  account  of  recent  experiments  in  New 
York  City  looking  toward  the  larger  usefulness  of  the  schools  as 
social  centres,  see  "  The  City  for  the  Children,"  by  Mr.  G.  V^.  Whar- 
ton, in  The  Outlook  for  September  6,  1902. 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

proving  to  be  a  source  of  great  pleasure  to  the 
children  and  of  great  benefit  to  the  schools. 
There  are  always  in  many  of  the  schools  some 
children  who  come  from  careless  or  poverty-stricken 
homes,  and  who  need  first  of  all  to  be  made  clean. 
A  bath  quickens  their  wits,  gives  them  self-respect, 
and  reacts  favorably  upon  their  home  conditions. 
The  city  cannot  do  less  for  its  children  than  to 
enforce  cleanliness  in  the  school,  and  the  enforce- 
ment often  consists  merely  in  furnishing  the 
opportunity. 

Related  to  the  vacation  school  and  the  play- 
ground are  the  swimming  pool,  the  gymnasium, 
and  the  athletic  field.  Boston  enjoys  the  enviable 
distinction  of  standing  at  the  forefront  of  American 
cities  in  providing  these  means  for  the  physical 
culture  of  the  next  generation  of  citizens.  In  a 
recent  annual  report,  the  Boston  public  baths  com- 
mission calls  attention  to  an  interesting  aspect  of 
the  educational  work  of  the  gymnasia.  These  in- 
stitutions, the  commission  says,  "accomplish  the 
training  of  young  men  who  are  ambitious  to  enter 
the  city's  service  as  policemen  and  firemen.  The 
city  gymnasia  have  been  the  means  of  raising  by 
ten  or  fifteen  points  the  standard  for  appointment 
to  positions  in  these  departments." 

More  important  than  any  other  single  result, 
and  perhaps  more  important  than  all  other  results 
combined,  of   the  greater  freedom  in  educational 

'^  Annual  Report  of  the  Department  of  Baths  for  the  Year  i goo ^ 
p.  5- 

ii6 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

methods  involved  in  the  various  movements  we 
have  referred  to,  would  be  the  general  introduction 
into  the  school  of  instruction  in  the  physiology  and 
hygiene  of  sex.  Ignorance  in  this  direction  is  the 
cause  of  an  incalculable  amount  of  misery  and  vice, 
while  the  unfortunate  traditional  silence  of  parents 
only  emphasizes  the  necessity  of  instruction  by  the 
school.  Here  the  school  has  the  greatest  of  its 
opportunities  to  strike  at  the  octopus  of  vice  and 
physical  degeneration,  and  prepare  a  body  of  citi- 
zens who  will  greatly  surpass  the  present  genera- 
tion in  physical  health  and  moral  self-control. 
This  opportunity  is  being  generally  neglected, 
practically  all  of  the  standard  text-books  on  physi- 
ology ignoring  the  existence  of  the  reproductive 
system  in  the  human  organism.  The  study  of 
biology  in  high  schools  furnishes  an  easy  oppor- 
tunity for  introducing  this  subject  into  the  curricu- 
lum. This  has  been  done  to  my  knowledge  in 
Marshalltown,  lowa.^  The  public  gymnasia  and 
bathing  establishments  offer  an  equally  good  op- 
portunity, which  ought  to  be  generally  utilized. 
Parents'  meetings  in  connection  with  kindergartens, 
vacation  schools,  and  other  progressive  modes  of 
education,  also  offer  the  opportunity  for  bring- 
ing the  home  and  the  school  into  closer  touch,  and 
for  getting  a  better  understanding  and  more  intel- 
ligent cooperation  between  parents  and  teachers  in 
these  most  vital  parts  of  the  education  of  children. 

1  This  instruction  at  Marshalltown  was  introduced  by  Miss  Mary 
P.  Blount,  formerly  teacher  of  biology  in  that  city. 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

All  the  agencies  of  civic  education  just  de- 
scribed —  the  playground,  the  bath,  the  swimming 
pool,  the  gymnasium,  the  athletic  field  —  are 
proper  adjuncts  of  the  public  school.  It  now 
remains  for  us  to  discuss  briefly  the  fourth  factor 
in  civic  education,  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  has 
thus  far  played  little  part,  but  which  has  in  it 
almost  infinite  possibilities  of  usefulness.  I  refer 
to  the  organization  of  children's  leagues  to  partici- 
pate directly  in  the  functions  of  city  government. 
Perhaps  the  most  noteworthy  experience  along 
this  line  was  that  of  Colonel  Waring  in  the  street- 
cleaning  department  of  New  York  City.  He  or- 
ganized juvenile  street-cleaning  leagues  and  found 
that  the  children  of  the  tenements  responded  with 
wonderful  enthusiasm  to  his  appeal  to  their  civic 
pride.  The  "Civic  Pledge,"  which  was  learned 
and  repeated  by  each  member  of  these  children's 
organizations,  was  in  these  words  :  — 

**  We,  who  are  soon  to  be  citizens  of  Neiv  York^  the 
largest  city  on  the  American  continent,  desire  to 
have  her  possess  a  name  which  is  above  reproach. 
And  we  therefore  agree  to  keep  from  littering  her 
streets  and  as  far  as  possible  to  prevent  others  from, 
doing  the  same,  in  order  that  our  city  may  be  as 
clean  as  she  is  great,  and  as  pure  as  she  is  free} 

The  American  League  for  Civic  Improvement 
has  for  some  years  been  carrying  on  a  campaign 

1  See  Colonel  George  E.  Waring's  Street  Cleaning  and  its  Ef- 
fects, p.  183. 

118 


CIVIC   EDUCATION 

for  the  beautification  of  cities  through  the  cleaning 
up  of  back  yards  and  vacant  lots,  and  the  general 
planting  of  shrubbery  in  neglected  places.  In  the 
city  of  Cleveland  this  work  has  been  carried  on 
principally  through  the  children,  who  quickly 
became  enthusiastic  when  they  were  shown  how 
to  join  hands  with  nature  in  banishing  the  ugliness 
incidental  to  man's  careless  industry.  In  Grand 
Rapids  recently  a  school  ground  was  improved  by 
the  children  themselves,  and  the  privilege  of  digging 
in  the  dirt  proved  a  great  incentive  to  study  when 
held  out  as  a  reward  for  lessons  learned.  Spring- 
field, Massachusetts,  has  a  city  forester  who  has 
had  as  many  as  four  thousand  children  organized 
to  help  in  protecting  the  trees  of  the  city  from 
insect  enemies. 

This  field  of  education  is  capable  of  indefinite 
development.  The  city  children  who  roam  the 
streets  or  grow  up  sickly  and  pallid  from  confine- 
ment indoors  might  just  as  well  be  helping  at  the 
municipal  housekeeping,  and  they  would  prove  as 
useful  in  this  work  as  country  children  are  in  help- 
ing about  their  homes.  By  this  means,  too,  the 
city  child  may  be  given  the  vital  experience  he  so 
much  needs,  and  be  trained  in  cooperation  and 
awakened  to  civic  interests  and  community  pride. 
The  child  could  easily  be  made  useful  as  a  policeman^ 
a  health  inspector,  a  street  cleaner  and  sprinkler, 
and  a  city  gardener.  In  a  large  city  the  coop- 
eration of  the  children  with  the  police  departmentj 
if  the  latter  were  in  good  faith  devoted  to  catching 

119 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

criminals  and  suppressing  disorder,  would  greatly 
reduce  the  expense  of  the  department. 

Superintendent  Search  advocates  building  every 
city  schoolhouse  in  the  midst  of  a  large  park  or 
garden,  in  which  the  pupils  may  receive  the  same 
advantages  of  intimate  and  responsible  contact 
with  nature  which  are  open  to  country  children. 
When  confronted  with  the  question  of  expense,  he 
asks :  "  Why  does  the  wage-earner  toil  day  after 
day,  and  the  capitalist  store  up  his  money,  if  it  is 
not  to  confer  wealth  upon  the  children  .'*  And  what 
wealth  is  there  that  can  for  a  moment  be  compared 
with  glorious  health,  and  the  developing  power 
which  comes  from  a  well-trained  mind.'"'^  These 
words  express  the  ideal  attitude  of  the  city  toward 
its  children.  It  may  be  that  with  kindergartens 
and  manual  training,  with  instruction  in  civics  and 
training  in  self-government,  with  regulated  play- 
grounds and  active  cooperation  in  the  municipal 
housekeeping,  city  children  will  enjoy  advantages 
more  than  enough  to  compensate  them  for  their 
lack  of  the  freedom  and  spontaneity  of  country  life ; 
but  if  civic  education  is  neglected,  the  population  of 
a  great  city  must  degenerate  physically,  mentally, 
and  socially.  The  realization  of  freedom  through 
democracy  depends  upon  costly  effort,  but  the  end 
is  worth  the  means,  and  there  is  no  field  of  mu- 
nicipal improvement  so  promising  as  this  —  the 
cultivation  of  citizens. 

1  Att  Ideal  School^  p.  103. 


120 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  CONTROL  OF  LEISURE 

While  it  is  true  that  civic  education  is  primarily 
the  work  of  educating  citizens  for  the  next  genera- 
tion, there  is  a  sense  in  which  all  the  people  are 
the  city's  children.  It  is  one  of  the  extraordinary 
results  of  city  life  that  the  steadiness  of  mature 
life  and  the  placidity  of  old  age  play  a  compara- 
tively unimportant  part  in  urban  society.  Cities 
are  gay.  Pleasure  is  their  watchword.  And  so 
it  happens  that  in  cities  the  functions  of  the  gov- 
ernment reach  out  beyond  the  training  of  the 
youth  and  include  to  a  considerable  extent  the 
care  of  the  morals  and  amusements  of  adults  as 
well.  This  work  is  accomplished  primarily 
through  the  direct  or  indirect  control  of  leisure. 

The  difference  between  virtue  and  vice  as  char- 
acteristic of  a  community,  which  means  the  dif- 
ference between  the  success  and  the  failure  of  de- 
mocracy, lies  principally  in  the  use  that  the  people 
make  of  their  leisure.  (  Work,  even  under  disagree- 
able conditions,  causes  few  moral  wrecks.  It  is 
pleasure-seeking  run  amuck  that  threatens  the 
integrity  of  a  race  or  the  permanence  of  free  insti- 
tutions. I  The  changes  that  are  being  wrought  in 
modern  life  emphasize  more  and  more  the  impor- 

121 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

tance  of  the  right  use  of  leisure,  for  with  the 
shortening  of  the  hours  of  industry,  the  minute 
division  of  labor,  and  the  transformation  of  work- 
men into  machine-tenders,  the  real  significance  of 
work  in  the  formation  of  character  and  the  devel- 
opment of  citizenship  is  becoming  less.  When 
men  work  for  themselves,  having  control  of  their 
own  plans  and  activities,  exercising  judgment,  and 
wrestling  with  nature  or  society  in  the  effort  to 
produce  some  useful  commodity  or  render  some 
useful  service,  they  can  better  afford  to  work  long 
hours,  for  in  their  work  itself  they  are  practising 
the  art  of  life.  Such  are  the  natural  citizens  of 
democracy.  But  when  industry  becomes  so  or- 
ganized and  so  centrally  controlled  that  most  men 
no  longer  work  for  themselves  but  sell  their  time  to 
another,  often  to  some  huge,  incorporeal,  distant, 
controlling  power,  and  become  mere  cogs  in  the  great 
and  swiftly  moving  mechanism  of  a  modern  factory, 
or  business  office,  or  department  store,  then  the  cul- 
ture of  life  must  be  almost  altogether  undertaken 
in  leisure  hours.  This  is  rendered  more  difficult 
by  the  tension  of  the  work  hours,  which,  though 
short,  are  Hkely  to  unnerve  men  and  unfit  them 
for  serious  attention  to  self-improvement  at  other 
times.  High-pressure  work  during  short  hours  is 
a  natural  preparation  for  dissipation  during  long 
hours  of  leisure. 

The  best  solvent  for  this  high  tension  of  the 
vggrk  life  is  a  pleasant  home  with  children  init^ 
Anything  that  goes  to  make  the  homes  of  working- 

122 


THE  CONTROL  OF   LEISURE 

men  fewer,  less  attractive,  and  less  fit  for  children 
to  live  in,  encourages  all  forms  of  vice  and  mili- 
tates a^iainstjii&fia&lu{i.jaJldji^^  The  ten- 
dency of  congested  city  life  is  to  banish  nature  and 
children.  Thus  the  problem  of  city  government  is 
intensified,  and  licentiousness,  gambling,  and  in- 
temperance, the  trio  of  deadliest  foes  to  the  physi- 
cal, moral,  and  intellectual  life  of  a  people,  are 
encouraged.  Some  would  lay  less  emphasis  on  the 
home  and  more  on  cultured  associations  outside 
of  it,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  home  responsibili- 
ties are  an  important  factor  in  healthful  relaxation 
from  the  strain  of  work. 

Herein  lies,  perhaps,  the  deepest  tragedy  of  civ- 
ilization, namely,  that  cities  under  the  conditions  of 
modem  industry  tend  to  be  unfit  places  for  the  birth 
and  rearing  of  children,  while  the  leisure  of  city 
life,  the  increased  need  for  recreation,  the  narrow- 
ing down  of  the  opportunities  for  healthy  physical 
activity,  the  intimate  association  of  men  and  women 
outside  the  home  and  the  exploitation  of  the  charms 
of  sex,  tend  to  stimulate  that  passion  the  satisfac- 
tion of  which  normally  results  in  bringing  children 
into  the  world.  The  actual  consequence  of  these 
conflicting  tendencies  is  about  equally  disastrous 
at  the  two  ends  of  the  social  ladder.  In  the  slums 
and  among  the  poor  we  have  swarms  of  children, 
pinched  and  dwarfed  by  conditions  of  existence 
that  make  home  life  a  sort  of  nightmare ;  among 
the  well-to-do  we  have  homes  choking  with  artifi- 
cial luxury  and  deprived  of  the  comforts  natural  to 

123 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

child  life ;  while  all  through  the  social  scale  the 
multitudes  of  homeless  men  and  women  who  fall 
a  prey  to  vice  and  are  dedicated  to  race  degen- 
eration m.ultiply.  Between  stimulated  passion  and 
increased  poverty  as  its  upper  and  nether  mill- 
stones, civilization  grinds  many  human  lives  to 
dust.  "  Let  us  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry,  for  to- 
morrow we  die,"  is  in  every  age  the  motto  of  the 
homeless  6r  childless  man  who  feels  no  responsi- 
bility to  the  future,  a  responsibility  that  is  the 
essence  of  citizenship. 

Some  of  the  conditions  leading  to  immorality 
are  bound  up  with  the  housing  problem.  Thirty 
years  ago  Mr.  Charles  Loring  Brace  described  evil 
conditions  of  life  in  the  tenement-houses  of  New 
York  City.  These  conditions  have  since  borne  an 
abundant  harvest  of  vice.  Said  he  :  "  If  a  female 
'Child  be  born  and  brought  up  in  a  room  of  one  of 
these  tenement-houses,  she  loses  very  early  the 
modesty  which  is  the  great  shield  of  purity.  Per- 
sonal delicacy  becomes  almost  unknown  to  her. 
Living,  sleeping,  and  doing  her  work  in  the  same 
apartment  with  men  and  boys  of  various  ages,  it  is 
well-nigh  impossible  for  her  to  retain  any  feminine 
reserve,  and  she  passes  almost  unconsciously  the 
line  of  purity  at  a  very  early  age."  ^ 

In  1902,  in  its  report  on  The  Social  Evil^  the 
Committee  of  Fifteen,  constituted  in  the  fall  of 
1900  for  the  purpose  of  looking  into  the  terrible 
conditions  known  to  be  prevalent  in   New  York 

1  op.  cit.,  p.  55. 
124 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

City,  and  for  the  further  purpose  of  reaching  some 
definite  conclusion  based  on  the  experience  of  the 
world  as  to  the  right  attitude  of  municipal  authori- 
ties toward  vice,  suggested  some  of  the  causes  that 
aggravate,  under  city  conditions,  the  other  half 
of  the  problem  of  vice,  namely,  mascuHne  profli- 
gacy. "  A  great  part  of  the  population  of  a  modern 
city,"  says  the  committee,  "  consists  of  young 
men  who  have  drifted  thither  from  the  country  and 
small  towns,  attracted  by  the  greater  opportunities 
of  rising_i]i„saGial  life  -and  by  the  greater  degree 
of  comfort  that  the  city  offers.  As  a  rule,  the 
income  that  a  young  man  earns,  while  sufficient  to 
secure  a  fair  degree  of  comfort  for  himself,  does 
not  suffice  for  founding  a  family.  As  his  income 
increases,  his  standard  of  personal  comfort  rises ; 
accordingly,  he  postpones  marriage  until  a  date  in 
the  indefinite  future,  or  abandons  expectation  of 
it  altogether.  His  interests  centre  almost  wholly 
in  himself.  He  is  responsible  to  no  one  but  him- 
self. ^The  pleasures  that  he  may  obtain  from  day 
to  day  become  the  chief ~end  ot  his  Jife.'^  A  popu- 
lar pTiilosophy  of  hedonism  furnishes  him  with 
a  theoretical  justification  for  the  inclinations  that 
are  developed  by  the  circumstances  in  which  he  is 
placed.  It  is  not  unnatural,  then,  that  the  strong- 
est native  impulse  of  man  should  find  expression 
in  the  only  way  open  to  it  —  indulgence  in  vice. 

"  At  the  same  time  that  personal  scruples  with 
regard  to  continency  dissolve  in  the  crucible  of 
city  life,  the  main  external  check  upon   a   man's 

125 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

conduct,  the  opinion  of  his  neighbors,  which  has 
such  a  powerful  influence  in  the  country  or  small 
town,  tends  to  disappear.  In  a  great  city  one  has 
no  neighbors.  No  man  knows  the  doings  of  even 
his  close  friends ;  few  men  care  what  the  secret 
life  of  their  friends  may  be.  Thus,  with  his  moral 
sensibilities  blunted,  the  young  man  is  left  free  to 
follow  his  own  inclinations.  The  greater  the  city, 
as  a  rule,  the  more  pronounced  in  this  respect  is 
its  demoralizing  influence,  and  our  cities  are  grow- 
ing steadily  greater,  and  are  in  an  even  greater  de- 
gree setting  the  moral  tone  for  the  country  as  a 
.whole.  The  problem  of  masculine  vice,  it  will  be 
seen,  is  an  integral  part  of  that  infinitely  complex 
problem,  the  *  Social  Question.'  "^ 

The  prevalence  of  prostitution  growing  out  of 
these  conditions  is  one  of  the  serious  menaces  to 
democracy  and  the  future  of  our  great  cities. 
Vice,  though  especially  encouraged  by  metropoli- 
tan conditions,  is  nevertheless  the  bane  of  all 
cities  of  whatever  size.  Undoubtedly  the  pecul- 
iarly mixed  character  of  the  population  aggravates 
many  political  evils  in  our  cities ;  but  sexual  vice 
seems  to  flourish  with  little  reference  to  this  fact, 
except  in  so  far  as  evil  political  conditions  react 
upon  and  stimulate  it.  It  is  a  matter  of  common 
belief  that  in  every  city  of  any  considerable  size 
prostitution  flourishes  as  a  more  or  less  "  necessary 
evil,"  in  natural  alliance  with  the  law-defying  ele- 
ments of   the  community.     Everywhere  the   city 

^  TAe  Social  Evily  pp.  8,  9. 
126 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

authorities  are  brought  face  to  face  with  the  prob- 
lem of  the  suppression  or  control  of  vice. 

Prostitution  is  a  social  vice  that  strikes  at  the 
very  root  of  good  citizenship,  and  operates  always 
and  everywhere  against  the  reahzation  of  democ- 
racy. It  is  a  great  physical  evil,  conducive  to 
loathsome  diseases  which  are  of  a  highly  conta- 
gious nature,  and  afflict  not  only  those  who  indulge 
in  vice,  but  oftentimes  unoffending  wives  and 
helpless  babies  also.  But  the  social  effects  of 
prostitution  are  even  worse  than  the  physical,  for 
this  vice  represents  a  phase  of  human  slavery  as 
degrading  and  offensive  to  the  spirit  of  freedom 
as  that  form  of  slavery  which  has  been  abolished 
in  America  at  the  cost  of  rivers  of  blood.  The 
sale  of  the  use  of  one's  body  to  another  in  the  sex 
relationship  is  so  gross  an  offence  against  humanity, 
representing  as  it  does  the  betrayal  of  the  human 
race,  the  degradation  and  degeneracy  of  civiliza- 
tion, that  no  right-minded  and  clear-seeing  citizen 
of  the  world  can  contemplate  it  without  horror. 

It  is  not,  however,  in  a  general  and  theoretical 
way  alone  that  prostitution  is  a  deadly  political 
evil.  Religion  and  ethics  unite  in  condemning  it 
as  a  crime,  and  in  this  country  the  better  sense  of 
the  community  instinctively  strikes  against  it  as 
a  foe  to  free  institutions.  As  a  result  of  these 
conditions,  practically  everywhere  the  law  brands 
it,  and  prescribes  repression  as  the  only  remedy. 
Nevertheless,  the  inherent  difficulty  in  the  enforce- 
ment of  this  policy,  and  the  actual  condition  of 

127 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

public  sentiment  as  a  whole,  have  rendered  efforts 
on  the  part  of  municipal  authorities  to  eradicate 
vice  spasmodic  and  uncertain.  The  practical 
policy  of  the  twenty  principal  cities  of  the  United 
States  was  investigated  a  year  or  two  ago  by  the 
Chicago  Bureau  of  Statistics.^  In  response  to  the 
question,  "Are  inmates  or  keepers  of  houses  of 
ill  fame  fined  at  regular  intervals  .'* "  the  authori- 
ties of  thirteen  cities  replied,  "  No  " ;  of  one,  re- 
plied, "  Prosecuted  wherever  found "  ;  of  one, 
**  Unmolested  except  for  cause  "  ;  of  one,  "  Only 
when  disorderly";  of  one,  "Only  on  complaint"; 
of  one,  "Only  when  disorderly,  ^20";  of  one, 
"Yes,  once  a  year,  according  to  the  amount  of 
business";  of  one,  "Yes,  $100  per  month";  and 
of  one,  "Yes,  every  two  months,  ;^icx)."  In  an- 
swer to  the  question,  "  Are  prostitutes  confined  to 
certain  sections  of  the  city.?"  the  authorities  of 
seven  cities  said,  "No";  of  nine,  "Yes";  of  the 
remaining  four,  "  As  far  as  practicable,"  "  Partly," 
"  Mostly  so,"  and  "As  far  as  possible." 

Cincinnati  occupies  a  peculiar  position  in  regard 
to  the  problem  of  vice  in  this  respect,  namely,  that 
a  policy  of  the  examination  and  practical  licensing 
of  prostitutes  has  been  adopted  and  publicly  pro- 
claimed.2     This   policy  has   been  worked  out  by 

1  Cify  of  Chicago  Statistics,  Vol.  I,  No.  2,  May,  1901. 

2  See  Bulletin  of  the  League  of  American  Municipalities,  Novem- 
ber, 1903,  pp.  68-77.  The  article  here  published  is  an  address  on 
"  Municipal  Restriction  of  the  Social  Evil,"  delivered  by  Mayor 
Julius  Fleischmann,  of  Cincinnati,  at  the  Baltimore  Convention  of 

128 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

the  health  and  police  departments,  and  is  frankly 
admitted  to  be  outside  of  and  contrary  to  the  spirit 
of  the  law.  It  could  not  be  carried  out  at  all  with- 
out the  active  cooperation  of  the  police.  The  plan 
is  to  make  weekly  examinations  of  all  prostitutes, 
and  send  those  who  are  diseased  to  the  hospital 
until  cured.  When  new  votaries  of  vice  are  found 
plying  their  trade,  they  are  sent  to  the  hospital  for 
examination.  All  women  having  certificates  of 
health  and  who  submit  to  the  regulations  of  the 
municipal  authorities  are  unmolested,  whether  liv- 
ing in  houses  of  prostitution  or  in  private  apart- 
ments, so  long  as  there  is  no  open  breach  of  the 
peace.  Every  keeper  of  a  house  of  prostitution 
has  to  report  to  the  police  the  arrival  of  new  in- 
mates and,  in  case  any  woman  in  her  establishment 
is  found  diseased,  the  keeper  is  required  to  pay 
the  hospital  expenses.  Music  is  allowed  in  the 
houses  until  midnight,  and  no  attempt  is  made  to 
stop  liquor  selling  there,  though  an  effort  has  been 
made  to  collect  the  liquor  tax  from  the  illegal  traf- 
fic. Of  500  women  under  the  control  of  the  health 
and  police  departments,  of  whom  440  are  inmates 
of  resorts,  on  the  average  12  are  sent  to  the 
hospital  every  week.     This  indicates  that  on  the 

the  League  of  American  Municipalities  in  October,  1903.  Mr. 
Fleischmann's  paper  called  out  considerable  discussion  at  the  con- 
vention, the  delegates  from  Toledo  striking  at  the  root  of  the  error 
in  so-called  municipal  regulation  by  suggesting  that,  in  justice,  not 
alone  the  prostitutes  should  be  examined  and  given  certificates  of 
health,  but  their  patrons  also. 

K  129 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

average  all  the  women  have  to  be  cured  of  conta- 
gious disease  about  once  every  ten  months. 

The  Cincinnati  authorities  cannot  claim  any 
very  striking  results  favorable  to  this  policy,  and 
they  frankly  admit  that  to  be  worked  at  all  the 
plan  has  to  be  carried  out  in  a  subterranean  fash- 
ion in  violation  of  the  law.  Police  authorities 
generally  are  not  averse  to  some  such  plan.  By 
it  they  have  complete  control  of  the  disorderly 
women,  who  are  confessed  violators  of  the  law,  and 
so  live  in  terror  of  the  police.  This  plan,  at  its 
best,  proclaims  the  suppression  of  the  social  evil 
impossible,  and  sanctions  the  law  against  prostitu- 
tion on  the  ground  that  it  gives  the  police  authori- 
ties a  weapon  by  which  they  can  enforce  sanitary 
regulations  and  prevent  robbery  and  murder,  crimes 
which  frequently  associate  themselves  with  this 
vice.  This  plan  is  openly  proclaimed  in  Cincin- 
nati. In  other  cities,  doubtless,  somewhat  similar 
policies  prevail  in  practice.  Everywhere  the  law 
is,  in  a  great  measure,  ignored. 

Out  of  this  situation  there  has  grown  one  of  the 
worst  municipal  evils  of  the  time.  The  better 
sense  of  the  community,  realizing  that  prostitution 
is  in  fact  a  crime  against  democracy,  insists  that 
repression  shall  be  prescribed  by  law,  while  controll- 
ing public  sentiment,  yielding  to  the  supposed  weak- 
nesses of  human  nature,  confused  in  its  attitude 
toward  personal  liberty,  and  often  influenced  by 
greed  of  gain,  demands  the  so-called  "  lax  enforce- 
ment "  of  the  laws  against  vice.    Like  the  ostrich  that 

130 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

hides  its  head  in  the  sand  to  get  out  of  sight,  the 
American  city  passes  ordinances  against  vice  to 
prove  itself  respectable.  The  practical  result  of  this 
double-mindedness  in  public  sentiment  has  been 
the  prevalence  of  a  species  of  hypocrisy  tending 
to  undermine  the  foundations  of  municipal  honor 
and  transform  the  police  authorities  into  allies  of 
vice  and  crime.  This  state  of  affairs  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  recent  experience  of  Minneapolis. 
It  had  been  the  custom  in  that  city  to  hale  the 
keepers  of  disorderly  houses  into  court  every 
month  and  impose  a  fine  of  ;?ioo  each.  In  St. 
Paul  the  fine  was  levied  every  two  months  only. 
In  both  cases  the  fine  was  in  reality  a  license  fee. 
When  the  recent  notorious  Ames  administration 
entered  into  criminal  alliances  in  every  direction  to 
loot  the  Minneapolis  public,  the  official  bandits, 
coveting  the  income  that  the  city  derived  from 
disorderly  houses,  raised  the  cry  that  a  fine  of  $ioo 
per  month  was  too  much.  St.  Paul  levied  once  in 
two  months.  So  the  Minneapolis  officials  arranged 
that  the  city  should  receive  the  license  fee  of  vice 
every  second  month  while  they  levied  blackmail 
for  their  private  gain  in  the  alternate  months. 
The  system  of  mtmicipal  blackmail  by  which  the 
city  licensed  the  violation  of  the  law  stood  ready  as 
an  object-lesson  to  the  greedy  officials.  All  that 
was  required  was  to  divert  the  license  fees  of  crime 
from  the  public  coffers  to  private  purses. 

The  corrupt  relations  of  the  police  with  vice  in 
New  York,  Chicago,  and  Philadelphia  have  been 

131 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

notorious,  while  in  other  cities  conditions  favorable 
to  police  corruption  commonly  flourish.  The  evil 
result  of  these  conditions  can  hardly  be  overesti- 
mated. Says  Mr.  William  H.  Baldwin,  Jr.,  late 
chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  of  New 
York: 

"  How  to  prevent  personal  liberty  from  degen- 
erating into  unbridled  license  is  a. problem  which 
is  ever  present  alike  in  city,  town  and  country ; 
but  it  is  in  the  great  city  that  it  presents  itself  in 
the  most  difficult  form,  since  the  social  environ- 
ment of  a  city  is  least  favorable  to  the  moral  de- 
velopment of  the  individual.  In  the  attempt  to 
solve  this  problem,  all  the  organized  forces  of 
education,  moral,  religious,  intellectual,  on  the  one 
hand,  are  directed  towards  training  the  individual 
to  a  wiser  use  of  his  liberty ;  while  on  the  other, 
certain  branches  of  the  city  government  are  charged 
with  the  function  of  restraining  the  imperfectly  de- 
veloped individual  from  a  misuse  of  his  liberty 
which  may  be  detrimental  to  the  mass  of  his  fel- 
low-citizens. There  is,  however,  in  our  great  cities 
a  tendency,  resulting  from  many  causes,  but  pri- 
marily from  the  indifference  of  the  educated  classes 
to  their  civic  responsibilities,  towards  a  state  of  af- 
fairs wherein  the  very  governmental  agencies 
which  were  designed  to  restrain  the  individual 
/  within  proper  bounds  foster  and  encourage  the 
evil  use  of  his  liberty  for  the  sake  of  gain.  .  .  . 
Under  the  abnormal  conditions  which  are  created 
by  the  protection  of  vice  by  the  authorities,  the 
132 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

great  moral,  religious  and  educational  forces  are 
almost  helpless."  ^ 

An  evil  that  strikes  with  such  force  at  the  physi- 
cal, moral,  and  political  foundations  of  municipal 
democracy  deserves  the  frank  and  earnest  consid- 
eration of  every  one  interested  in  civic  betterment. 
If  there  are  special  causes  in  the  conditions  of  city 
life  which  conduce  to  the  increase  of  vice,  the  city 
cannot  afford  to  neglect  any  reasonable  means  that 
can  be  devised  for  changing  these  conditions  for 
the  better.  It  is  commonly  believed  that  the  pres- 
ence in  a  community  of  a  large  proportion  of  un- 
married young  men  tends  to  increase  prostitution. 
That  this  proportion  is  greater  in  large  cities  than 
in  rural  districts  has  already  been  suggested.  A 
computation  based  on  the  federal  census  of  1900 
shows  that  of  all  male  residents  of  New  York  City, 
twenty-one  years  of  age  and  over,  6^  per  cent  are 
or  have  been  married,  while  in  New  York  state 
outside  of  cities  of  50,000  population  the  percent- 
age is  73.2  Comparative  statistics  for  several  cities 
and  states  are  shown  in  the  following  table :  — 

^  See  the  lYorth  American  Reviezv,  Vol.  173,  December,  1901, 
p.  845,  for  an  article  on  "  Publicity  as  a  Means  of  Social   Reform." 

2  In  making  these  computations  I  have  compared  the  total  num- 
ber of  married  men  and  widowers  with  the  total  number  of  males 
over  twenty-one  years  old. 


nz 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

PROPORTION  OF  ADULT  MALES  IN  CERTAIN 
CITIES  AND  STATES  WHO  ARE,  OR  HAVE 
BEEN,   MARRIED 


IN  THE  GREAT  CITIES 


IN  THE  STATES  OUTSIDE  OF 
CITIES  OF  50,000  POPULATION 


New  York 
Chicago     . 
Philadelphia 
Boston .     . 
Baltimore  . 
Washington 
St.  Louis   . 
New  Orleans 
Cleveland  . 
Cincinnati 
St.  Paul     . 
Minneapolis 
San  Francisco 


per 
cent 

67 
67 

67 
62 
70 
64 
65 

68 

r^ 

67  J 

58 
65 

55 


New  York  .  . 
Illinois  .  .  . 
Pennsylvania  . 
Massachusetts 

Maryland    .     . 

Missouri  .  . 
Louisiana    .     . 

Ohio.     .     .     . 

Minnesota  .  . 
California    .     . 


per 
cent 

73 

72 

71 
72 

76 
78 

75 

66 

57 


If  the  same  marriage  rate  prevailed  in  the  cities 
as  in  country  districts  of  the  same  state,  New  York 
City  would  have  60,000  more  married  men ;  Phila- 
delphia, 23,000  more ;  Chicago,  25,000  more;  Bos- 
ton, 16,000  more;  St.  Louis,  19,000  more;  New 
Orleans,  7500  more;  and  Cincinnati,  7000  more. 

It  is  significant  also  that  the  cities  where  tene- 
ment-houses are  common  show  a  considerably  lower 
percentage  of  married  men.  The  New  York  Ten- 
ement House  Commission  of  1900  found  that  out- 
side of  New  York  City  the  four  cities  most  afflicted 
134 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

with  the  tenement-house  problem  were  Boston, 
Cincinnati,  Jersey  City,  and  Hartford.  The  follow- 
ing table  tells  the  tale  :  — 

PROPORTION  OF  MARRIED  MEN  IN  TENEMENT- 
HOUSE  CITIES  AND  OTHER  NEAR-BY  CITIES 
COMPARED 


IN  TENEMENT-HOUSE  CITIES 

IN  OTHER  CITIES 

Boston 

per 
cent 
62 

Providence    .... 

per 
cent 

68 

Hartford    .... 

62 

New  Haven 

68 

Jersey  City     .     .     . 

69 

Newark     . 
r  Cleveland 

72 
71 

Cincinnati      .     .     . 

67 

j  Detroit      . 
[  Baltimore . 

73 

70 

New  York      .     .     . 

67 

Buffalo      . 

71 

Another  significant  fact  is  that  many  capital 
cities  show  a  low  percentage  of  married  men. 
Albany  has  66  per  cent ;  Columbus,  66  per  cent ; 
St.  Paul,  58  per  cent;  Washington,  64  per  cent. 
This  is  doubtless  due,  to  a  considerable  extent,  to 
the  presence  of  large  numbers  of  young  men  in 
the  employ  of  the  government. 

Some  cities  of  moderate  size,  on  the  other  hand, 
show  a  large  percentage  of  married  men.  Grand 
Rapids,  which  is  a  city  of  homes,  shows  "j^  per 
cent;  Fall  River,  74  per  cent;  New  Bedford,  ^6 
per  cent ;  Toledo,  74  per  cent. 

The  160  cities  having  a  population  of  upwards 

135 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

of  25,000  each  show  6j  per  cent  of  the  males  of 
voting  age  married  or  having  been  married,  while 
for  the  United  States  outside  of  these  cities  the 
percentage  is  74.  This  means  that  if  the  same 
proportion  of  city  men  married  as  of  country  men, 
there  would  be  in  the  160  largest  cities  of  the  United 
States  400,000  more  married  men  than  there  are.  In 
these  same  cities  there  are  7,992,974  persons  under 
the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  or  almost  exactly  two 
for  every  man  who  is  or  has  been  married.  Out- 
side of  these  cities  the  average  number  of  children 
for  every  such  man  is  two  and  one-half.  This 
means  that  if  families  were  as  large  in  the  cities 
as  they  are  in  the  country,  there  would  be  about 
2,000,000  more  children  in  the  cities  than  there 
now  are,  and  if  both  the  marriage  rate  were  as 
high  and  the  size  of  families  as  large  in  the  cities 
as  outside,  there  would  be  3,000,000  more  children 
in  the  cities  which  now  have  a  combined  popula- 
tion of  19,718,312.  This  is  in  spite  of  the  well- 
known  fact  that  the  foreign  quarters  and  the  slum 
districts  of  our  cities  swarm  with  children,  while 
many  of  our  rural  districts  have  become  suffi- 
ciently modernized  to  show  a  low  birth-rate  and 
a  decreasing  population. 

Statistics  are  often  misleading,  unless  the  facts 
they  represent  are  explained  in  detail  in  the  light 
of  varying  conditions.  Nevertheless,  the  figures 
I  have  presented  seem  to  give  strong  confirmation 
to  the  general  observation  of  two  facts,  namely, 
that  city  men  tend  to  postpone  or  forego  marriage, 

136 


THE   CONTROL  OF   LEISURE 

and  that  children  in  city  families  are  fewer  than 
in  families  elsewhere.  The  bearing  of  these  two 
facts  on  the  problem  of  vice  in  cities  as  affecting 
the  destiny  of  democracy  is  not  remote.  So  far 
as  these  facts  go  to  show  a  check  upon  reproduc- 
tion consistent  with  health  and  virtue  and  repre- 
senting greater  care  for  the  future  and  more 
rational  prudence  in  the  most  intimate  and  vital 
relations  of  life,  the  friend  of  democracy  has  rea- 
son to  rejoice  and  hope.  But  unfortunately  com- 
mon observation  and  facts  which  have  not  been 
reduced  to  statistical  form  point  to  the  conclusion 
that  this  extra  400,000  unmarried  men  and  this 
deficiency  of  3,000,000  children  in  our  cities  do 
not,  in  general,  prove  less  indulgence  of  the  de- 
sires and  passions  of  men  and  greater  self-control, 
but  rather  the  perversion  of  natural  tendencies 
into  the  channels  of  vice.  The  known  prevalence 
of  prostitution  is  one  evidence  of  this.  Another 
proof,  not  less  convincing,  is  the  known  preva- 
lence of  unnatural  practices  within  the  marriage 
relation,  which  have  for  their  purpose  the  limita- 
tion of  offspring  without  any  curtailment  of  indi- 
vidual pleasures,  and  which  have  for  their  effect 
the  ruin  of  the  health  of  many  women,  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  capacity  for  normal  motherhood,  and 
the  enthronement  in  their  homes  of  the  spirit  of 
near-sighted  selfishness  that  is  most  inimical  to 
the  growth  of  fellowship  and  mutual  helpfulness 
upon  which  the  success  of  democracy  in  cities 
more  and  more  depends. 

137 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

It  is  perhaps  natural  that  in  cities  marriage 
should  be  somewhat  delayed,  on  account  of  the 
greater  expense  of  living  and  the  larger  capital 
required  to  found  a  comfortable  home.  At  any 
rate,  it  is  both  natural  and  right  that  the  number 
of  children  in  city  homes  should  be  reasonably 
limited ;  for  under  existing  conditions,  while  a 
child  in  the  country  may  become  practically  self- 
supporting  at  ten  years  of  age  or  younger,  a  city 
child  must  ordinarily  be  an  increasing  burden 
upon  the  family  until  he  is  about  grown  to  man- 
hood. The  trouble  is  that  the  limitation  usually 
is  found  at  the  wrong  end  of  the  social  scale,  that 
is,  among  the  well-to-do.  The  indoor  life  of  city 
women,  especially  of  those  who  do  not  work  with 
their  hands,  makes  childbirth  much  more  danger- 
ous for  them  and  decreases  their  chances  of  healthy 
motherhood.  The  congestion  of  city  life  and  its  re- 
moteness from  nature,  as  we  have  already  noticed, 
are  difficulties  of  prime  magnitude  in  the  way  of 
the  rearing  of  children.  All  along  the  line  the 
obstacles  to  healthy  reproduction  in  cities  multi- 
ply, while  the  temptations  to  vice  also  multiply. 

Undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  powerful  temp- 
tations to  vice  of  all  kinds  is  the  medical  adver- 
tisements that  throng  the  columns  of  most  daily 
newspapers,  promising  to  every  one  immunity  from 
the  penalties  of  sin.  If  a  man  is  an  epicure,  dys- 
pepsia tablets  will  silence  his  recalcitrant  stomach. 
If  a  woman  is  a  bond  slave  in  marriage,  a  medi- 
cine   is   offered    that   will   give    her    nerve-force 

138 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

enough  to  withstand  the  effects  of  excess.  If  a 
man  has  contracted  a  loathsome  disease,  he  is 
offered  a  painless,  shameless,  and  almost  price- 
less remedy.  If  a  woman  does  not  want  to  bear 
children,  she  has  only  to  consult  the  columns  of 
the  newspaper  or  the  druggist's  show-window  to 
find  a  variety  of  regulators  and  devices  that  prom- 
ise her  absolute  guarantee  against  pregnancy,  with- 
out danger  to  herself.  All  or  most  of  these 
advertisements  are  published  in  direct  violation 
of  law;  yet  public  sentiment  is  supine,  and  prac- 
tically no  effort  is  made  to  punish  the  offenders. 
The  newspapers  are  financially  interested,  and  vice 
is  strong.  Yet  here  we  have  thrust  before  young 
and  old,  apparently  with  public  approval,  positive, 
manifold,  and  continuous  assertions  that  the  mean- 
ing of  civilization,  science,  and  progress  is  freedom 
to  violate  the  laws  of  nature  and  not  suffer  for  it. 
This  is,  I  doubt  not,  a  powerful  incentive  to  vice. 
It  is  only  one  manifestation  of  the  poison  of  luxury 
which  has,  since  the  dawn  of  history,  undermined 
the  life  of  cities. 

The  grossly  unequal  distribution  of  wealth  in 
great  cities  brings  the  irresponsibility  of  riches  in 
contact  with  the  dependence  of  poverty.  The 
idea  is  abroad  that  a  man  has  a  right  to  self-in- 
dulgence if  he  can  and  will  pay  for  it  in  money. 
This  false  and  undemocratic  sentiment  is  a  prolific 
cause  of  vice  in  cities.  The  economic  dependence 
of  woman  is  emphasized  by  low  wages  and  high 
living  expenses,  and  in  numberless   cases  she   is 

139 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

practically  forced  to  accept  a  ruthless  marriage 
or  a  more  ruthless  harlotry. 

Here  are  the  various  conditions  that  give  its 
setting  to  the  fundamental  tragedy  of  civic  life, 
which  can  be  ultimately  solved  only  by  virtue  of 
a  higher  type  of  human  nature,  less  in  bondage 
to  the  senses,  more  self-controlled,  far-seeing,  and 
obedient  to  the  true  ideals  of  freedom,  and  above 
all,  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  social  ethics  that 
translates  wealth  and  power  into  duty  rather  than 
privilege.  Perhaps  in  individual  cases  this  better 
type  might  be  developed  through  moral  hardships 
and  resistance  to  unfavorable  conditions.  But  for 
people  generally  salvation  depends  upon  an  im- 
proved environment.  The  city  must,  therefore,  be 
up  and  doing  to  so  modify  the  conditions  of  life 
within  its  limits  as  to  encourage  virtue  and  dis- 
courage vice. 

The  conclusions  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen 
are  along  this  line.  "The  Social  Evil,"  says  the 
committee,  "  is  assuming  alarming  dimensions. 
What  is  needed  at  this  time  is  a  definite  policy 
with  regard  to  it ;  a  policy  that  shall  not  attempt 
the  impossible,  that  shall  not  be  based  on  the  de- 
lusive hope  of  radically  altering  in  a  single  gen- 
eration the  evil  propensities  of  the  human  heart, 
or  of  repressing  vice  by  mere  restrictive  legislation, 
but  which,  none  the  less,  shall  ever  recognize  as 
an  ultimate  end  the  moral  redemption  of  the  human 
race  from  this  degrading  evil,  and  shall  initiate  no 
measure  and  advise  no  step  not  conducive  to  that 

140 


THE   CONTROL  OF   LEISURE 

end ;  a  policy  that  shall  be  practical  with  respect 
to  the  immediate  future,  and  shall  at  the  same 
time  be  in  harmony  with  the  ideals  which  are 
cherished  by  the  best  men  and  women  in  this 
community. 

"  As  an  outline  of  such  a  policy,  we  submit  the 
following :  — 

"  First,  strenuous  efforts  to  prevent  in  the  tene- 
ment-houses the  overcrowding  which  is  the  prolific 
source  of  sexual  immorality.  The  attempts  to  pro- 
vide better  housing  for  the  poor,  praiseworthy  and 
deserving  of  recognition  as  they  are,  have  as  yet 
produced  but  a  feeble  impression  upon  existing  con- 
ditions, and  are  but  the  bare  beginnings  of  a  work 
which  should  be  enlarged  and  continued  with  un- 
flagging vigor  and  devotion.  If  we  wish  to  abate 
the  social  evil,  we  must  attack  it  at  its  source. 

"  Secondly,  the  furnishing  by  public  provision 
or  private  munificence,  of  purer  and  more  elevat- 
ing forms  of  amusement  to  supplant  the  attrac- 
tions of  the  low  dance-halls,  theatres,  and  other 
similar  places  of  entertainment  that  only  serve  to 
stimulate  sensuality  and  to  debase  the  taste.  The 
pleasures  of  the  people  need  to  be  looked  after  far 
more  earnestly  than  has  been  the  case  hitherto. 
If  we  would  banish  the  kind  of  amusements  that 
degrade,  we  must  offer  to  the  public  in  this  large 
cosmopolitan  city,  where  the  appetite  for  pleasure 
is  keen,  some  sort  of  suitable  alternatives. 

**  Thirdly,  whatever  can  be  done  to  improve  the 
material  conditions  of  the  wage-earning  class,  and 

141 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

especially  of  young  wage-earning  women,  will  be 
directly  in  line  with  the  purpose  which  is  here  kept 
in  view.  It  is  a  sad  and  humiliating  admission  to 
make,  at  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  century,  in 
one  of  the  greatest  centres  of  civiHzation  in  the 
world,  that,  in  numerous  instances,  it  is  not  pas- 
sion or  corrupt  inclination,  but  the  force  of  actual 
physical  want,  that  impels  young  women  along  the 
road  to  ruin."  ^ 

"  What,  then,  is  to  be  the  status  of  prostitution 
in  the  city  of  New  York  ?  In  the  first  place,  it 
must  be  driven  out  of  tenement  and  apartment 
houses;  the  evil  must  be  rigidly  excluded  from 
the  homes  of  the  poor.  Secondly,  it  must  not  be 
segregated  in  separate  quarters  of  the  city,  for  the 
reason  that  such  quarters  tend  to  become  nests  of 
crime  and  veritable  plague  spots,  and  for  the  further 
reason  that  segregation  does  not  segregate  just  as 
it  has  been  shown  that  regulation  does  not  regulate. 
Thirdly,  all  public,  obtrusive  manifestations  of  pros- 
titution shall  be  sternly  suppressed."  ^ 

"The  better  housing  for  the  poor,  purer  forms 
of  amusement,  the  raising  of  the  conditions  of 
labor,  especially  of  female  labor,  better  moral  edu- 
cation, minors  more  and  more  withdrawn  from  the 
clutches  of  vice  by  means  of  reformatories,  the 
spread  of  contagion  checked  by  more  adequate 
hospital  accommodations,  the  evil  itself  unceasingly 
condemned   by   public   opinion   as   a   sin   against 

1  The  Social  Evil,  pp.  172-174. 

2  Ibid.i  pp.  178,  179. 

142 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

morality,  and  punished  as  a  crime  with  stringent 
penalties  whenever  it  takes  the  form  of  a  public 
nuisance,  —  these  are  the  methods  of  dealing  with 
it  upon  which  members  of  the  committee  have 
united  and  from  which  they  hope  for  the  abate- 
ment of  some  of  the  worst  of  its  consequences  at 
present,  and  for  the  slow  and  gradual  restriction 
of  its  scope  in  the  future."  ^ 

The  committee,  in  its  studies  and  its  recom- 
mendations, did  not  touch  upon  vice  within  the 
marriage  relation.  This  may  have  been  due  to 
acquiescence  in  the  world-wide  notion  that  the 
ethics  of  marriage,  if  there  be  any  such,  is  a 
purely  individual  affair,  not  amenable  to  legal 
regulations,  and  almost  outside  the  pale  of  moral 
suasion  and  social  education.  The  frequency  of 
divorce  in  recent  years  and  the  community's  recog- 
nized interest  in  all  the  children  prove  this  notion 
to  be  erroneous,  and  it  needs  very  Uttle  acumen  to 
see  that  prostitution  is  encouraged  and  the  struggle 
against  it  rendered  nerveless  by  the  spread  of  the 
peculiarly  human  and  civilized  idea  of  marriage, 
according  to  which  physical  love  is  divorced  from 
its  normal  consequence,  reproduction.  So  far, 
then,  as  the  remedy  for  prostitution  lies  in  educa- 
tion, it  will  be  necessary  to  attack  the  evil  frankly 
at  its  root  and  struggle  for  an  indefinitely  higher 
and  more  social  ideal  of  marriage  than  the  com- 
mon one.  And  so  far  as  the  remedy  for  prostitu- 
tion  consists  in   repressive   measures,  the   public 

1  The  Social  Evil,  p.  i8o. 


/ 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 


authorities  must  not  grant  any  indulgence  to  the 
shameless  advertisements  of  the  vices  of  marriage. 

Gambling  in  its  various  forms  is  a  vice  hardly 
less  destructive  to  citizenship  and  fraught  with 
danger  to  the  future  of  great  cities  than  the 
social  evil.  Gambling,  whether  carried  on  in  a 
saloon,  at  a  church,  at  a  fair,  in  a  gambling- 
house,  in  a  bucket-shop,  at  a  race,  a  foot-ball 
game,  or  an  election,  or  in  the  columns  of  a  news- 
paper, arises  from  the  excitation  of  the  play  spirit 
coupled  with  the  fundamental  dishonesty  involved 
in  the  desire  to  get  something  for  nothing,  to  get 
control  of  the  fruits  of  other  men's  labor,  or  to 
monopolize  opportunities  without  performing  any 
service  in  return.  Gambling  always  results  in  a 
net  loss  to  the  community.  It  produces  nothing, 
while  the  time  and  energy  devoted  to  it  are  a  clear 
waste.  It  represents  the  competitive  spirit  so  far 
degenerated  as  to  make  the  cooperation  and  fellow- 
ship essential  to  municipal  democracy  impossible. 
The  "  gambling  hell,"  so  called,  is  the  legitimate, 
though  disinherited,  offspring  of  the  church  raffle, 
the  social  game  of  chance,  the  election  bet,  and 
speculation  in  stocks.  The  gambling  spirit  is 
rampant  in  American  cities  at  the  present  time, 
and  constitutes  a  formidable  menace  to  good  gov- 
ernment. Repression  as  a  sole  remedy  is  a  failure 
in  respect  to  this  as  in  respect  to  other  vices.  The 
real  remedy  must  include  a  far-reaching  program 
of  education  and  civic  betterment. 

This  truth  is  apparent  upon  consideration  of  the 
144 


THE  CONTROL  OF  LEISURE 

principal  causes  that  work  together  to  make  gam- 
bling a  peculiarly  city  vice.  In  the  first  place 
city  people  have  more  leisure  for  play  than  country 
folks,  while  thej02£ortunii^_i^r_out-of-door  sports 
is  less.  THe'result  is  that  parlor  games" furnish  a" 
very  large  proportion  of  city  recreation.  The 
prevalence  of  cards  and  other  games  in  which 
chance  is  an  important  factor  is  well  known. 
These  games  are  excellent  time  killers.  They  are 
ready-to-hand  devices  for  spurring  on  the  lagging 
hours.  They  are  a  cheap  means  of  entertainment. 
The  anxious  host  is  relieved  of  "the  intolerable 
toil  of  thought "  necessitated  by  personal  hospitality 
and  real  social  intercourse.  In  these  games  people 
gamble  for  pleasure.  The  psychological  effect  is 
far-reaching,  especially  with  the  young.  Games 
of  chance^even  when  hr^r'^'S^^y p^Ryf dj^j^yfilciXlJ"'^^ 
habits;]of^mirfrii  ^'^^^  ^^  '^^^icluiu^^  counter  to  the 
demands  of  democracy.  The  first  of  these  habits 
is~"that  of  depending  upon  luck  for  success.  To 
draw  "a  good  hand"  from  the  shuffle  in  the 
parlor  games  teaches  a  boy  that  success  in  life 
depends  on  his  getting  an  unusual  opportunity  or 
an  exceptional  position  in  the  industrial  struggle. 
In  other  words  ''luck"  and  **puH"  rather  than 
"industry"  and  "merit"  come  to  be  the  watch- 
words of  success.  So  much  may  be  said  for  the 
chance  element  in  these  games.  So  far  as  they  are 
games  of  skill,  they  develop  a  habit  of  mind  which 
prepares  a  man  to  keep  his  own  counsel  and  quickly 
and  ruthlessly  take  advantage  of  any  negligence 
L  145 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

or  mistake  on  the  part  of  his  opponent.  That  is 
to  say,  the  mental  skill  arid  acuteness  developed 
by  these  games  is  competitive  in  the  strict  sense. 
It  is  not  skill  in  producing  things  or  performing 
service,  but  in  taking  advantage  of  one's  neighbors 
and  reaping  where  one  has  not  sown.  These 
habits  of  mind  are  out  of  date  in  a  modern  city. 
From  an  evolutionary  standpoint  they  represent 
surviving  characteristics  of  past  cycles  and  are 
directly  responsible  for  the  gilded  failures  that 
strew  the  path  of  human  civilization  in  its  slow  and 
painful  progress  toward  the  type  of  human  nature 
which  democracy  assumes  in  part  and  in  part 
creates. 

Another  and  perhaps  more  important  cause  for 
the  prevalence  of  the  gambling  spirit  in  cities  is 
the  transformation  in  the  industrial  system  by 
which  the  upper  classes  of  city  men  have  been 
removed  from  contact  with  the  tangible  processes 
of  production,  and  by  which  most  city  men  have 
been  largely  relieved  of  direct  responsibility  for  the 
usefulness  of  their  labor.  The  industrial  process 
has  become  so  complex  that  one  can  hardly  tell 
whether  he  is  a  producer  or  a  parasite.  This  con- 
fusion removes  the  moral  check  from  the  competi- 
tive process,  and  the  man  who  does  not  work  with 
his  hands  is  prone  to  measure  his  succqss  ji^^^^J^ 
the  amount  of  his  income.  He  is  not  sure  but  that  he 
may  be  performing  a  social  service  even  when  he 
appears  to  be  getting  something  for  nothing. 
Along  with  this  uncertainty  and  moral  trusting-to- 
146 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

luck  has  gone  concentration  of  the  control  of 
capital,  so  that  the  city  man  who  saves  money 
must  generally  intrust  its  investment  to  some  other 
person  or  corporation  over  whom  he  has  only  a 
feeble  control.  The  ownership  of  capital  is  in  this 
way  largely  divorced  from  responsibility  for  its  use. 
The  farmer  living  on  his  own  land  can  invest  his 
savings  almost  without  limit  in  the  improvement 
of  his  farm,  either  by  adding  to  his  own  comforts 
and  luxuries  or  by  making  his  land  more  produc- 
tive. The  city  man  when  he  has  once  provided 
himself  with  a  comfortable  home  must  generally 
put  his  surplus  money  in  a  bank  or  invest  it  in 
stocks  or  bonds.  Here  the  great  gamblers  get  in 
their  work.  The  mass  of  stocks  and  many  of  the 
bonds  put  upon  the  general  market  are  subject  in 
a  greater  or  less  degree  to  speculative  fluctuations. 
The  promise  of  large  profits  induces  the  public  ti> 
invest,  and  the  uncertainty  of  all  business  over 
which  one  has  no  direct  control  makes  investors 
take  chances.  A  gain  incites  the  desire  for  further 
gain.  A  loss  increases  the  need  to  make  abnormal 
gains  in  the  future.  Thus  speculation  multiplies 
in  cities  because  the  city  man  is  largely  cut  off 
from  responsibility  for  the  usefulness  of  his  own 
work  and  the  right  employment  of  the  capital 
accumulated  by  saving. 

These  results  follow  when  games  of  chance  are 
played  without  cheating  and  speculation  carried 
on  without  fraud.  When  cheating  and  fraud  enter 
in,  as  they  often  do,  the  evil  results  are  greater. 

147 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

District  Attorney  Jerome,  of  New  York,  in  his 
raids  upon  well-known  gambling-houses  of  that 
city,  seems  to  have  established  the  fact  that  "  hon- 
est "  gambling  does  not  exist  to  any  considerable 
extent.  Honest  gambling,  like  honor  among 
thieves,  has  a  precarious  foundation.  There  is 
a  fatal  discrepancy  in  the  idea,  for  to  win,  either  by 
chance  or  by  skill,  the  earnings  of  another  is  fim- 
damentally  dishonest.  As  a  practical  problem  in 
municipal  government,  the  suppression  of  gam- 
bling is  beset  by  difficulties  similar  to  those  in  the 
case  of  prostitution.  A  repressive  legal  policy  is 
insisted  upon  by  the  better  sense  of  the  community 
which  recognizes  gambling  as  incompatible  with 
good  citizenship,  while  pubHc  sentiment  is  not  con- 
sistently favorable  to  a  strict  enforcement  of  the 
law.  These  conditions  lead  to  hypocrisy  and 
police  corruption  similar  to  that  already  described 
in  the  discussion  of  the  social  evil. 

The  laws  and  ordinances  in  regard  to  these  two 
vices  ought  to  be  so  changed  as  to  become  reason- 
ably enforceable.  The  public  manifestation  of 
these  vices  ought  to  be  rigidly  repressed  as  a 
crime,  while  their  private  practice  should  be  dis- 
couraged by  educational  means,  but  not  interfered 
with  by  the  police  except  on  the  initiative  of  those 
directly  concerned.  The  most  important  work  of 
the  municipality  in  the  discouragement  of  prosti- 
tution and  gambling  will  be  done  in  making  pro- 
vision for  healthy  out-of-door  recreation  and  in 
cultivating  civic  spirit  by  means  of  better  education, 
148 


THE   CONTROL  OF   LEISURE 

more  attention  to  municipal  art,  and  more  extensive 
rendering  of  common  services.  The  expansion  of 
municipal  functions  to  include  the  ownership  of  all 
public  utilities,  as  well  as  the  indefinite  improve- 
ment of  municipal  facilities  for  education,  health, 
and  pleasure,  would  furnish  the  citizen  the  oppor- 
tunity for  safely  investing  his  surplus  earnings  in 
the  taxes  and  bonds  of  the  great  cooperative  insti- 
tution whose  accounts  are  all  public  and  for  whose 
policies  all  the  citizens  are  responsible.  This 
policy  would  strike  at  the  root  of  the  gambling 
evil  by  exploiting  the  spirit  of  cooperation  and  by 
bringing  the  citizens  back  to  direct  responsibility 
for  the  use  of  their  invested  capital. 

Intemperance,  the  close  ally  of  the  other  vices 
under  discussion,  completes  the  trio  of  vultures 
that  are  ceaselessly  preying  upon  the  vitals  of 
municipal  democracy.  There  is  no  defence  for 
drunkenness,  and  in  so  far  as  the  saloon  breeds  or 
tolerates  this  vice,  it  is  a  positive  menace  to  social 
order,  an  institution  that  defies  law,  creates  anarchy, 
and  destroys  reason.  This  fact  makes  the  Ameri- 
can public  always  regard  the  saloon  with  sus- 
picion. It  is  looked  upon  by  a  strong  element  in 
the  community  as  a  natural  outlaw  to  be  destroyed 
wherever  possible,  and  rigidly  controlled  elsewhere. 
This  attitude  of  the  pubHc  mind  has  undoubtedly 
reacted  upon  the  business  itself,  and  made  it  less 
respectable  and  more  prone  to  consider  itself  the 
enemy  of  law  and  order,  privileged  to  evade  or 
break  through  all  rules  and  regulations,  depend- 

149 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

ing  upon  unscrupulous  alliances  for  immunity  from 
punishment.  The  saloon  is  one  of  the  most  pow- 
erful institutions  in  the  American  city,  and,  prac- 
tically everywhere,  is  more  or  less  mixed  up  with 
city  politics,  so  that  one  of  the  most  vexing  prob- 
lems of  municipal  government  in  this  country  is 
the  control  of  the  saloon  business. 

The  strength  of  the  saloon  depends,  primarily, 
of  course,  upon  the  popular  demand  for  intoxicat- 
ing liquors.  But  there  are  many  other  contribu- 
tory elements  of  strength  that  are  often  extremely 
embarrassing  to  the  temperance  reformer.  The 
saloon  performs  an  immense  service  as  a  social 
centre.  This  is  especially  true  in  crowded  cities 
where  the  homes  of  the  working  people  are  unat- 
tractive, and  where  the  proportion  of  unmarried 
men  is  great.  The  more  leisure  a  man  has  whose 
family  is  living  in  a  New  York  tenement,  the  worse 
off  he  is,  unless  he  is  so  exceptional  a  man  as  to  care 
to  spend  his  time  in  crowded  reading  rooms  where 
the  atmosphere  is  often  hot  and  vile.  The  dis- 
advantage of  leisure  arises  from  the  fact  that  the 
man  is  in  the  way  at  home,  and  there  is  nothing 
for  him  to  do  except  to  help  keep  house.  It  is  very 
natural  that  the  corner  saloon,  which  is  kept  bright 
and  cheerful,  with  music  oftentimes,  and  always 
furnishing  a  place  for  meeting  with  their  fellows, 
equipped  with  comfortable  seats,  facilities  for 
games,  and  toilet  conveniences,  should  attract 
men  and  command  their  leisure.  The  saloon  is 
often  called  "  the  poor  man's  club."     This  service 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

which  the  saloon  performs  as  a  neighborhood 
centre  for  comfortable  intercourse  is  undoubtedly 
one  chief  source  of  its  strength,  and  will  enable 
it  to  withstand  the  attacks  of  its  enemies  until 
some  other  means  are  devised  to  take  its  place.^ 

A  second  source  of  strength  is  in  the  fact  that 
every  saloon  is  a  public  station  where  a  man  or 
boy  may  have  toilet  conveniences  at  all  hours  of 
the  day  and  evening.  To  the  shame  of  American 
cities  it  must  be  said  that  they  have  almost  every- 
where left  the  provision  for  the  common  decencies 
and  conveniences  of  life  to  private  enterprise,  and 
the  saloon  has  not  been  slow  to  take  advantage  of 
this  omission.  Toilet  conveniences  more  or  less 
free  to  the  public  are  provided  in  depots,  hotels, 
department  stores,  office  buildings,  etc.,  but  the 
saloon  is  the  well-nigh  omnipresent  convenience 
station  where  public  use  is  encouraged.  So  the 
policeman  can  threaten  a  seven-year-old  boy  with 
arrest  because  of  indecent  exposure  on  the  streets 
of  New  York,  when  there  are  a  dozen  saloons 
within  a  block  where  the  child  might  have  gone 
to  relieve  his  necessity.  The  policeman  himself, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  enforce  the  law,  is  forbidden  to 
enter  a  saloon  during  his  hours  of  service  except 
on  official  business,  and  yet  necessity  often  com- 
pels him  to  break  this  rule.  The  same  is  true  of 
other   public   employees,  such   as   the   uniformed 

1  For  an  extensive  discussion  of  the  "  Saloon  as  a  Social  Centre," 
see  Substitutes  for  the  Saloon,  Chapter  I,  by  Raymond  Calkins,  an 
expert  employed  by  the  Committee  of  Fifty. 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

street-cleaners  and  letter-carriers.  Boston  and 
New  York  have  made  partial  provision  for  the 
public  convenience  in  the  down-town  districts. 
San  Francisco  has  a  well-equipped  public  comfort 
station,  and  Grand  Rapids  has  appropriated  funds 
for  the  construction  of  one  in  the  near  future. 
But  almost  everywhere  no  such  conveniences  out- 
side of  the  parks  and  the  city  buildings  are 
furnished  by  the  municipal  authorities.  The  per- 
formance of  this  simple  municipal  function  gives  to 
the  saloon  a  certain  dignity  and  the  strength  that 
always  comes  from  usefulness. 

The  saloon  also  performs  service  as  a  place 
of  slaking  legitimate  thirst.  Many  American  cities 
are  supplied  with  water  which  does  not  command 
the  confidence  of  the  people.  New  York,  to  be 
sure,  is  provided  with  exceptionally  pure  water 
from  the  mountains.  But  Chicago  takes  its  water 
from  Lake  Michigan  into  which,  until  recently, 
its  sewage  has  been  discharged.  The  result  is 
that  in  Chicago,  even  yet,  beer  is  sometimes  con- 
sidered a  safer  beverage  than  city  water.  The 
same  is  true  of  many  cities  whose  water-supply  is 
taken  from  rivers  which  are  polluted  with  sewage. 
Even  if  water  is  not  dangerously  polluted,  the 
average  man  prefers  not  to  drink  or  bathe  in  mud, 
and  many  city  water-supplies  become  unpopular, 
because  at  times  of  high  water,  or  perhaps  at  all 
times,  they  are  roily.  It  is  certainly  not  conducive 
to  full  confidence  in  the  waters  of  the  Potomac  for 
drinking   purposes  to  have   the   experience   of   a 

152 


THE   CONTROL  OF   LEISURE 

mud  bath  in  a  Washington  bath-tub.  Everywhere 
that  the  water-supply  is  not  pure  and  clean,  this 
very  fact  strengthens  the  saloon,  and  puts  many 
citizens  under  obligation  to  it  who  might  otherwise 
never  cross  its  threshold.  This  result  may  be 
reached  even  where  the  water-supply  is  good, 
simply  by  the  failure  of  the  city  to  establish  a 
sufficient  number  of  public  drinking  fountains. 
Indeed,  it  seems  true  that  the  most  appropriate  and 
effective  first  step  of  civic  authorities  in  the  direc- 
tion of  temperance  would  be  to  provide  an  abundant 
supply  of  pure  and  attractive  water,  with  numerous 
drinking  fountains,  so  that  the  thirsty  citizen  or 
stranger  can  satisfy  his  need  at  any  time  of  day  or 
night  in  any  part  of  the  city. 

In  these  several  ways  the  real  service  now 
performed  by  the  saloon  takes  the  edge  off  the 
opposition  manifested  by  those  citizens  who  are 
the  natural  enemies  of  intemperance.  But  the 
saloon  receives  shelter  from  the  public  wrath  and 
is  protected  in  its  resistance  to  the  law  by  reason 
of  other  complicating  conditions.  One  of  the 
most  serious  of  these  is  the  admixture  in  the  same 
community  of  large  bodies  of  citizens  of  different 
race  and  different  social  habits.  This  is  the 
pecuHar  problem  of  the  American  city,  and  it  is  in 
this  respect  without  doubt  that  the  presence  of 
foreigners  is  most  embarrassing  to  our  city  govern- 
ment. The  conflict  between  the  "American  Sab- 
bath "  and  the  "  Continental  Sunday  "  rages  about 
the   saloon,  especially   in    New   York  City.      By 

153 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

state  law  in  New  York  all  saloons  are  required  to 
be  closed  between  midnight  Saturday  and  five 
o'clock  Monday  morning,  as  well  as  between  one 
o'clock  and  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  throughout 
the  week.  Sunday  closing  is  extremely  offensive 
to  a  large  part  of  the  German  population  of  the 
great  cities,  because  Sunday  is  the  day  for  respect- 
able beer  drinking  in  the  pleasure  gardens  of  the 
Fatherland.  To  shut  up  drinking  places  on 
Sunday  seems  to  these  adopted  citizens  of  Amer- 
ica a  gross  violation  of  personal  liberty,  and  en- 
tirely contrary  to  the  expectations  of  refugees  in  a 
free  country.  It  is  useless  to  enlarge  upon  these 
well-known  conditions  of  conflicting  public  senti- 
ment in  most  of  our  principal  cities.  Milwaukee, 
St.  Louis,  San  Francisco,  and  some  other  cities 
apparently  do  not  attempt  to  compel  Sunday  clos- 
ing, and  thus  they  avoid  the  difficulty  by  yielding 
to  the  European  standard.^ 

The  idea  of  Sunday  closing  originates  in  hos- 
tility to  the  saloon  as  an  institution.  The  Ameri- 
can people  do  not  believe  that  men  should  spend 
their  leisure,  especially  their  rest  days,  in  the 
saloon ;  they  think  of  it  as  a  natural  centre  of 
dissipation,  disorder,  and  vice.  Undoubtedly  this 
view,  coupled  with  a  policy  of  regulation  by  license 
fee  and  police  surveillance,  gives  the  saloon 
question  its  disturbing  importance  among  our 
municipal  problems. 

Out  of  the  conflicting  tendencies  of  pubHc  opin- 

1  City  of  Chicago  Statistics,  Vol.  I,  No.  2,  May,  1901. 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

ion  in  this  matter  have  grown  some  of  our  worst 
political  evils.  The  saloon  is  put  upon  the  de- 
fensive, and  all  too  often  driven  to  ally  itself  with 
vice  and  crime  and  protect  itself  by  bribery  of 
public  officials.  The  horrors  of  police  corruption 
are  largely  attributable  to  this  state  of  affairs,  for 
prostitution  and  gambling  would  find  it  much 
more  difficult  to  protect  themselves  if  it  were 
not  for  their  alliance  with  the  saloon  business, 
which  is  backed  up  by  immense  vested  interests 
and  considerable  popular  sympathy.  The  dis- 
orderly house,  the  gambling-den,  and  the  saloon 
have  all  sought  immunity  from  punishment  for 
violation  of  law.  One  crime  naturally  leads  to 
another,  and  the  corruption  of  public  officials 
follows  close  upon  the  heels  of  the  violation  of 
law  by  powerful  interests.  It  is  the  same  story 
that  has  been  so  often  told  of  the  franchise-grab- 
bers. At  first  they  corrupt  the  aldermen  and  the 
legislators,  and  then  these  latter  begin  to  prey 
upon  them.  The  result  is  criminal  collusion 
between  the  chosen  representatives  of  the  people 
and  the  powers  that  prey  upon  the  people.  And 
it  is  in  this  weakness  of  the  representative  system 
as  we  have  it  in  America  that  our  danger  lies. 
With  gold  holding  altogether  too  high  a  place  in 
popular  estimation,  many  elected  representatives, 
even  though  with  good  intentions  at  first,  yield  to 
the  pressure  that  is  focussed  upon  them.  This  con- 
dition points  to  the  necessity  of  strengthening 
our  system  of  government  by  making  it  more  demo- 

155 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

cratic  and  keeping  public  affairs  more  closely  under 
popular  control. 

The  problem  of  prostitution,  gambling,  and  in- 
temperance is  essentially  a  problem  of  the  control 
of  leisure.  A  policy  of  repression  alone  will  inevi- 
tably fail.  Education  of  the  hand,  the  cultiva- 
tion of  better  social  ideals,  the  improvement  of  the 
conditions  of  home  life,  the  provision  of  public  op- 
portunities for  healthful  recreation,  a  pure  water- 
supply,  and,  above  all,  the  development  of  the 
cooperative  spirit  and  the  awakening  of  the  civic 
conscience,  are  remedies  that  the  American  city 
cannot  neglect  if  it  hopes  to  save  itself  and  de- 
mocracy from  a  repetition  of  the  failures  of  history. 
Vice  is  the  chief  enemy  of  democracy.  Leisure 
is  the  opportunity  of  vice,  as  well  as  of  culture 
and  civic  cooperation. 

To  speak  of  the  "control  of  leisure"  may  ap- 
pear to  many  suggestive  of  tyranny  and  out  of 
harmony  with  the  theory  of  democracy,  — for  does 
not  democracy  mean  the  guarantee  to  the  individ- 
ual of  the  right  to  control  his  own  leisure  as  he 
sees  fit  ?  Here  is  the  crux  of  the  problem  of  vice. 
Here  lies  the  struggle  between  the  two  ideas  of 
freedom  which,  in  their  extremes,  are  interpreted 
as  license  and  duty  respectively.  Democracy,  as 
conceived  in  this  book,  lays  emphasis  on  the  latter. 
Freedom,  to  us,  is  the  condition  in  which  a  man 
finds  himself  when  he  obeys  the  fundamental  laws 
of  life.  Vice  means  anarchy  or  a  jumble  of  petty 
despotisms.     Drunkenness,  gambling,  and  prosti- 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

tution  have  no  standing  in  court  because  they  are 
in  themselves  incompatible  with  freedom  and  self- 
control,  and  it  is  a  part  of  the  doctrine  of  democ- 
racy that  no  man  has  the  right  to  sell  himself  into 
bondage.  To  say  that  he  is  free  to  enslave  him- 
self would  be  a  contradiction  in  terms.  All  re- 
pressive measures  applied  by  the  state  or  the 
municipality  to  personal  habits,  not  involving  direct 
and  tangible  injury  to  others,  rest  on  this  theory  of 
freedom.  While  it  is  true,  as  has  been  pointed 
out,  that  a  repressive  policy  alone  applied  to  vice 
is  doomed  to  failure,  still  we  must  not  go  to  the 
other  extreme.  There  is  ample  theoretical  justi- 
fication for  the  suppression  of  vice,  but  experience 
has  shown  that  public  authorities  cannot  success- 
fully regulate  personal  conduct  except  within  cer- 
tain rather  narrow  limitations.  Unquestionably 
the  police  can  clear  the  bill-boards  of  the  flaming 
representations  of  crime  and  indecency.  Surely 
men  who  are  found  drunk  in  public  places  can  be 
locked  up.  Gambling-houses,  publicly  known, 
can  be  closed.  Criminal  advertisements  can  be 
kept  out  of  the  newspapers.  Public  disorder  can 
be  sternly  repressed,  and  vice  punished  when  it 
involves  the  injury  of  innocent  persons  against 
their  will,  provided  they  stand  ready  to  invoke 
public  protection.  Statutes  attaching  human  pen- 
alties to  violations  of  natural  laws  are  not  incon- 
sistent with  democracy.  The  inconsistency  lies 
in  that  class  of  puritanic  legislation  which  attempts 
to  regulate  men's  conduct  in  accordance  with  some 
157 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

particular  religious  tenet  or  philosophical  dogma 
which  the  people  themselves  do  not  support  with 
practical  unanimity. 

As  life  becomes  more  complex  through  the 
growth  of  cities  and  the  coordination  of  work  and 
intellectual  activity,  the  legitimate  sphere  of  social 
control  is  extended.  Under  democracy,  this  con- 
trol of  the  individual,  if  supported  in  good  faith  by 
public  opinion,  is  not  a  tyranny,  but  social  self- 
control.  The  government  is  not  an  entity  set  off 
against  the  people  with  power  to  oppress  them, 
but  rather  the  organized  expression  of  the  popular 
will.  Laws  are  self-imposed  rules  of  life.  From 
this  point  of  view  restrictive  measures  in  regard  to 
vice  are  not  only  permissible  but  essential  to  de- 
mocracy. While  advocating  a  change  in  the  laws 
where  experience  and  common  sense  show  them 
to  be  generally  unenforceable,  I  do  not  acknowl- 
edge the  right  of  vice  to  exist  and  prey  upon  so- 
ciety. I  merely  advocate  the  use  of  other  and 
more  effective  weapons  of  warfare  upon  the 
enemies  of  democracy  than  are  found  in  laws  not 
supported  by  public  opinion,  and  above  all  the 
calling-off  of  the  mock  battle  that  is  the  outgrowth 
of  municipal  hypocrisy  and  the  cause  of  the  carni- 
val of  police  corruption  and  political  blackmail 
which  has  brought  disgrace  upon  democracy  in  the 
great  American  cities. 

The  first  and  most  essential  part  of  the  positive 
municipal  program  for  the  discouragement  of 
vice  and  the  direction  of  the  uses  of  the  people's 

158 


THE  CONTROL  OF   LEISURE 

leisure  into  channels  consistent  with  and  conducive 
to  the  welfare  of  democracy  is  the  establishment  of 
public  parks,  commons,  playgrounds,  athletic  fields, 
breathing-spaces,  recreation  piers,  etc.,  where  the 
people  of  a  city  may  come  in  contact  with  nature 
and  enjoy  sunshine  and  fresh  air  under  conditions 
favorable  to  physical  and  moral  health.  Crimes  are 
not  usually  planned  in  the  open  air,  and  vice  gen- 
erally avoids  the  sunlight.  There  is  probably  no 
more  striking  illustration  in  the  world  of  the  pecul- 
iar function  of  the  city  park  as  an  antidote  to  vice 
and  crime  than  Mulberry  Bend  Park  in  New  York 
City.  Where  this  little  park  now  nestles  in  the 
heart  of  the  metropolis,  thronged  on  a  summer 
day,  especially  on  an  evening  or  a  Sunday,  with 
weary  tenement  dwellers  glad  to  escape  from  their 
dismal  homes,  there  was  formerly  a  block  of  build- 
ings notorious  as  a  haunt  of  vice  and  a  harbor  of 
crime.  One  of  New  York's  hell  holes  has  been 
transformed  into  one  of  her  beauty-spots  by  the 
letting-in  of  the  sunshine.  A  visit  to  the  recrea- 
tion piers  of  New  York,  or  to  the  Central  Park,  or 
to  any  of  the  accessible  municipal  parks  of  America 
on  a  summer  evening  or  Sunday  afternoon  is 
enough  to  convince  any  thoughtful  citizen  of  the 
prime  necessity  of  municipal  provision  of  oppor- 
tunities for  recreation  in  the  open  air  during  leisure 
hours. 

American  cities  have  taken  a  good  deal  of  pride 
in  the  development  of  parks,  but  in  many  cases 
civic  effort  has  been  poured  out  upon  one  or  two 

159 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

large  parks,  too  far  from  the  heart  of  the  city  to 
be  easily  accessible  except  on  Sundays  and  holi- 
days.^ The  great  cities,  especially,  are  much  in 
need  of  more  small  parks  and  breathing-places. 
The  total  area  of  public  parks  in  the  38  cities  hav- 
ing a  population  of  more  than  icx),ooo  each  by  the 
census  of  1900  is  reported  by  the  United  States 
Department  of  Labor  as  about  51,000  acres,  which 
amounts  to  one  twenty-third  part  of  the  land  area 
of  these  cities,  or  about  one  acre  of  parks  to 
every  275  inhabitants.  In  New  York  City  as  a 
whole  there  is  one  acre  of  park  to  every  500  inhab- 
itants, but  on  Manhattan  Island  there  is  hardly 
one  acre  to  1 300  people.  The  parks  of  New  York 
City  represent  one  thirty-first  part  of  its  land  area, 
and  yet  if  the  park  area  were  as  densely  populated 
as  some  considerable  sections  of  Manhattan  Island, 
the  whole  population  of  the  city  could  be  accom- 
modated on  the  land  now  devoted  to  parks.  This 
goes  to  show,  not  the  great  extent  of  the  parks, 
but  the  extraordinary  congestion  of  population  in 
some  parts  of  the  city  and  the  consequent  extraor- 
dinary need  for  more  breathing-places  in  these 
quarters.  Old  New  York  averages  over  twenty 
persons  and  nearly  five  families  to  the  dwelling. 

1  "  Chicago  has  a  system  of  parks  of  which  it  may  be  justly 
proud,  but  from  the  point  of  view  of  resorts  for  laboring  people, 
Chicago  has  no  parks.  The  parks  are  so  distant  from  the  homes 
of  the  masses  as  to  be  practically  inaccessible.  The  park  system  is 
designed  for  the  rich,  while  it  taxes  the  poor,  and  reminds  one  that 
*  to  him  that  hath  shall  be  given.'  "  —  Raymond  Calkins  in  Substi- 
tutes for  the  Saloon^  p.  196. 

160 


THE   CONTROL  OF   LEISURE 

The  need  is  not  so  pressing  in  the  smaller  cities, 
but  the  tendency  is  to  neglect  to  reserve  space  for 
parks  near  the  centre  of  cities,  with  the  result  that 
when  the  need  is  felt  the  land  has  become  so  valu- 
able as  to  deter  the  pubHc  authorities  from  pur- 
chasing it.  Little  Mulberry  Bend  Park  cost  New 
York  City  about  ^1,500,000. 

The  street-railway  park  plays  an  important  role 
in  the  pleasure  seeking  of  many  American  cities. 
This  is  quite  a  different  institution  from  the  mu- 
nicipal park.  It  seeks  to  attract  the  people  by 
means  of  theatrical  shows,  dances,  boat-rides,  and 
nondescript  performances  after  the  Coney  Island 
pattern.  The  street-railway  park  has  for  its  pur- 
pose the  encouragement  of  travel,  and  is  often 
located  beyond  the  city  limits  and  consequently 
outside  the  control  of  the  municipal  police.  The 
difference  between  a  city  park  developed  at  public 
expense  as  a  popular  recreation  ground  and  a  street- 
railway  resort  is  well  illustrated  in  Grand  Rapids 
by  John  Ball  Park  and  "  Reed's  Lake."  John  Ball 
Park  is  a  beautiful  piece  of  wooded  hill  land  at  the 
western  extremity  of  the  city.  The  front  of  this 
park  has  been  fitted  up  by  the  municipal  authorities 
with  a  simple  pavilion  where  a  band  furnishes 
music  on  Sunday  afternoons,  with  greenhouses  and 
flower  gardens,  small  ponds  and  streams  of  run- 
ning water,  beautiful  lawns  and  walks,  and  cages 
for  the  animals,  while  the  greater  part  of  the  land 
lying  upon  the  hills  remains  nearly  in  its  natural 
condition  and  is  admirably  adapted  to  picnicking 
M  161 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

and  rambling.  "Reed's  Lake,"  at  the  other  ex- 
tremity of  the  city  and  just  outside  its  Umits,  is 
fitted  up  with  an  open  theatre  where  vaudeville 
performances  are  kept  up  throughout  the  summer, 
and  the  **  cave  of  the  winds,"  the  *'  house  of  trou- 
ble," and  other  "midway"  institutions  appeal  to 
the  pleasure  seekers.  Some  of  the  vaudeville  is 
demoralizing  and  most  of  it  is  cheap.  The  whole 
tone  of  the  place  is  suggestive  of  greed  catering  to 
folly.  The  street  railway  does  not  get  the  people 
away  from  the  artificial  life  of  the  city  or  from  the 
influence  of  mercenary  motives.  "  Reed's  Lake  " 
is  more  animated  and  less  satisfying  than  John 
Ball  Park.  It  is  nearer  to  vice.  The  same  com- 
parison lies  between  these  two  as  between  Coney 
Island  and  Central  Park  in  New  York.^ 

^  "  Most  cities  have  adjacent  picnic  grounds  and  suburban 
resorts,  and  excursions  and  picnics  are  a  great  resource  as  a  means 
of  outdoor  amusement  for  the  people,  but  too  often  these  places  are 
left  in  the  hands  of  persons  who  destroy  their  usefulness.  The 
municipality  should  take  this  matter  in  hand  and  see  to  it  that  the 
park  commission  owns  or  controls  the  resorts  of  the  city's  people. 
A  striking  comparison  existed  between  Revere  Beach,  north  of 
Boston,  which  some  time  ago  became  a  public  reservation  under 
the  charge  of  the  Metropolitan  Park  Commission,  and  Nantasket 
Beach,  on  the  south  side  of  Boston,  which  until  recently  was  under 
private  control.  At  the  former  order  reigned,  and  the  vices  were 
partly  banished,  partly  repressed.  At  the  latter  the  vices  were 
obvious  and  uncontrolled.  Now,  by  the  order  of  state  legislation, 
Nantasket  Beach  is  public  domain.  Merely  from  the  landscape 
point  of  view,  it  is  the  finer  of  the  two,  and  it  will,  no  doubt,  soon 
become  the  beneficent  place  which  the  other  has  long  been. 
The  Revere  Beach  Reservation,  with  its  beach,  shelters,  band 
concerts,  merry-go-rounds,  and  restaurants,  attracts  large  numbers. 
162 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

The  indifferent  or  partly  vicious  tendencies  of 
these  popular  resorts  not  under  municipal  control 
suggest  educational  possibilities  of  a  high  order  to 
be  realized  from  municipal  bathing  beaches,  swim- 
ming-pools, theatres,  and  concert  halls.  The  park 
in  its  natural  beauty  furnishes  a  welcome  oppor- 
tunity for  relaxation.  But  there  is  a  widespread 
demand  for  more  active  recreation,  and  by  satisfy- 
ing it  the  city  can  effect  the  control  of  the  people's 
leisure  for  noble  ends,  rather  than  let  them  drift 
into  folly  and  vice  at  the  invitation  of  private 
greed. 

Public  baths  are  being  established  in  many 
American  cities,  some  for  summer  bathing  only, 
in  rivers,  lakes,  or  ocean,  and  some  in  substantial 
buildings  for  use  the  year  around.  Bathing  in 
river  or  pond  is  one  of  the  best  sports  of  young 
men  and  boys  in  the  country.  As  cities  grow  up, 
ordinances  are  passed  forbidding  nude  bathing 
within  the  city  limits,  and  sewage  and  refuse  are 
discharged  into  the  natural  bathing  waters,  so  that 
they  become  unfit  for  use  even  where  public  de- 
cency would  not  be  offended.  It  is  no  more  than 
right  that  a  city,  under  these  conditions,  should 
estabhsh  bathing  beaches,  bath-houses,  and  swim- 
ming-pools to  take  the  place  of  nature's  provisions. 

These  average  twelve  thousand  or  fifteen  thousand  on  week  days, 
and  five  or  six  times  as  many  on  fair  Sundays.  A  corps  of  over  a 
dozen  park  commission  pohce  efficiently  manages  this  crowd. 
Only  thirty-three  arrests  were  made  in  1897."  —  Raymond  Calkins, 
op.  cit.f  pp.  2QO,  201. 

163 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

The  need  of  public  bath-houses  in  all  cities  of  any 
considerable  size  is  apparent.  A  careful  estimate 
made  in  1902  showed  that  in  Grand  Rapids  only 
about  20  per  cent  of  the  residences  had  bath 
rooms  fitted  up  with  bath-tubs  and  water  connec- 
tions, and  in  the  slum  districts  of  New  York,  Balti- 
more, and  Chicago,  the  Department  of  Labor  found 
only  2  or  3  per  cent  of  the  houses  with  baths 
in  1894.  But  even  if  every  house  had  a  bath  room, 
there  would  still  remain  the  need  of  public  swim- 
ming-pools for  recreation.  Boston's  indoor  bath- 
houses furnish  600,000  baths  a  year,  while  the 
municipal  bathing  beaches  receive  upwards  of 
2,000,000  visits  during  the  summer  months.  This 
makes  an  average  of  about  five  baths  a  year  under 
municipal  auspices  for  every  person  living  in  the 
city.  No  other  large  American  city  is  so  well  fur- 
nished with  public  baths,  but  New  York,  Albany, 
Buffalo,  Baltimore,  Louisville,  Chicago,  and  Mil- 
waukee all  have  all-the-year-round  establishments, 
while  many  others  provide  for  summer  bathing. 
Under  proper  regulations  the  public  bath  may  be- 
come one  of  the  most  effective  of  municipal  enter- 
prises for  the  control  of  leisure,  the  improvement  of 
the  public  health,  and  the  increase  of  manliness  and 
self-respect  among  boys  and  young  men.  Bathing 
at  such  a  resort  as  Coney  Island,  uncontrolled  by 
municipal  authority,  and  closely  alHed  with  influ- 
ences tending  to  vice  and  irresponsibility,  is  very 
different  in  its  social  effects  from  bathing  at  a  well- 
regulated  municipal  establishment.  Herein  lies 
164 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

the  principal  necessity  for  public  control  of  the 
bathing  beaches  in  the  neighborhood  of  great 
cities. 

The  public-school  bath  is  being  established  in 
some  American  cities.  During  the  year  preced- 
ing November  lo,  1902,  Public  School  Number  i, 
Borough  of  Manhattan,  New  York  City,  had  fur- 
nished about  14,000  individual  baths  to  the  school 
children.  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  also  has  es- 
tablished some  school  baths,  which  are  eagerly 
sought  by  the  children.  In  Springfield  women 
are  admitted  on  Saturdays,  and  both  women  and 
children  during  the  summer  months.  The  school 
bath  proper  is  a  sanitary  and  educational  institu- 
tion, but  may  be  made  a  nucleus  of  public  interest 
in  the  schoolhouse  and  help  the  development  of 
the  school  as  a  social  centre.  The  school  equipped 
with  playgrounds  and  baths,  open  throughout  the 
summer  vacation,  would  be  in  a  position  to  do 
great  service  to  the  city  in  controlling  the  leisure 
of  the  children,  who  are  likely  to  learn  lessons  of 
lawlessness  and  vice  if  turned  loose  on  the  streets 
through  the  months  when  school  is  not  in  session. 

The  municipal  theatre  is  practically  unknown 
in  the  United  States.  The  nearest  approach  to  it 
is  the  street-railway  pavilions  such  as  I  have  men- 
tioned, and  which  might  easily  come  under  munici- 
pal control  with  the  public  ownership  of  the  street 
railways,  and  the  open-air  concerts  often  furnished 
by  cities  in  the  parks  during  the  summer  time. 
One  of  the  greatest  needs  of  the  American  city 

165 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

is  better  theatres.  In  the  popular  estimation  actors 
and  actresses  as  a  class  are  people  of  loose  morals, 
and  the  entertainments  which  reach  the  masses  of 
the  theatre-goers  are  enjoyed  with  this  idea  in  view. 
The  theatres  of  the  lowest  class  are  directly  allied 
with  vice,  and  many  others,  to  which  respectable 
people  go,  point  in  that  direction.  The  play  is 
especially  attractive  to  city  people,  and  becomes 
a  demoralizing  influence  of  great  power  when  it  is 
suggestive  of  immorality.  The  alliance  of  quasi-art 
and  vice  is  a  source  of  great  danger  to  democracy. 
Under  these  conditions  public  entertainments  under 
municipal  auspices  are  a  legitimate  and  almost  nec- 
essary means  for  the  protection  of  morals  and  the 
training  of  citizenship.  Vice  is  practically  every- 
where at  the  bottom  of  municipal  misgovern ment, 
and  though  the  laws  of  nature  fight  against  it  and 
destroy  its  votaries,  it  has  been  able  in  the  history 
of  the  world  to  sap  the  life  of  nations  and  topple 
splendid  cities  in  the  dust.  In  fact,  the  problem 
of  vice  in  cities  becomes  a  question  of  life  or  death, 
and  the  expansion  of  municipal  functions  along  the 
lines  here  suggested  for  the  purpose  of  controlling 
leisure  and  keeping  vice  in  check  admits  of  no  ad- 
v(^rse  argument  unless  it  be  on  the  score  of  effi- 
ciency. It  is  certainly  a  part  of  the  legitimate 
purpose  of  democracy  to  preserve  civilization  and 
promote  the  public  welfare. 

The  American  city  does  not  understand  the  full 
value  of  municipal  ceremonials.     True,  we  occa- 
sionally have  a  parade  of  the  police  and  fire  de- 
i66 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

partments,  perhaps  a  few  ceremonies  to  celebrate 
park  day,  and  an  infrequent  exhibition  of  civic 
hospitality  to  welcome  distinguished  visitors.  Per- 
haps the  most  striking  of  all  the  street  parades 
of  New  York  is  the  annual  review  of  the  street- 
cleaners,  who,  since  Colonel  Waring' s  day,  are  clad 
in  white  uniforms  and  popularly  known  as  "  White 
Wings."  But  as  a  rule  municipal  service  in  the 
United  States  is  a  prosaic  affair,  with  little  to  at- 
tract public  attention  or  enlist  popular  interest 
except  the  importance  of  the  service  itself.  This 
is  the  more  unfortunate  because  in  a  democracy 
the  public  service  needs  to  be  kept  in  the  public 
eye,  and  the  interest  of  the  citizens  in  municipal 
affairs  constantly  maintained.  The  street  carni- 
vals in  fashion  in  some  American  towns,  which 
often  attract  wide  attention,  are  likely  to  tend 
toward  libertinism  and  lawlessness,  while  strictly 
municipal  festivals  are  always  conducive  to  law 
and  order. 

Without  doubt  municipal  government  in  Amer- 
ica suffers  chiefly  from  dearth  of  civic  spirit  among 
the  citizens.  Civic  spirit  is  the  recognition  of  the 
cooperative  nature  of  life  in  cities,  and  the  willing- 
ness to  subordinate  purely  personal  and  private 
ends  to  the  welfare  of  the  community  as  a  whole. 
The  dearth  of  civic  spirit  is  due  to  the  intense 
competitive  struggle  in  the  industrial  world,  which 
tends  to  foster  a  purely  materialistic  standard  of 
success.  In  other  words,  greed  of  gold  is  inimical 
to  public  spirit  and  civic  pride.     It  is  within  the 

167 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

power  of  the  municipality  itself,  or  of  groups  of 
citizens  devoted  to  the  public  welfare,  to  adopt 
measures  calculated  to  cultivate  civic  spirit  and 
diminish  respect  for  purely  selfish  success.  Civic 
spirit  will  always  result  from  interest  in  municipal 
affairs  from  the  standpoint  of  public  service.  By 
the  cultivation  of  municipal  art,  removing  the  ugli- 
ness of  bill-boards,  decorating  public  buildings,  im- 
proving vacant  lots,  planting  shade  trees,  using 
artistic  lamp  posts,  street  signs,  fire-alarm  boxes, 
and  poles  for  municipal  wires,  the  city  government 
might  stimulate  the  pride  of  citizenship  and  en- 
croach upon  the  exclusiveness  of  private  interests. 
The  great  complaint  has  been  that  men  are  too 
much  engaged  with  business  affairs  to  pay 
attention  to  public  questions.  The  fact  is  that 
people  in  American  cities  have  plenty  of  leisure, 
which  is  now  taken  up  in  various  forms  of  recrea- 
tion, including  banquets  and  suppers,  dances  and 
card-parties,  theatre-going,  and  globe-trotting,  — 
amusements  that  are  often  demoralizing  by  reason 
of  their  inanity  and  because  they  furnish  an  excuse 
for  rivalry  in  the  display  of  wealth,  which  is  one  of 
the  worst  follies  of  American  life  and  one  of  the 
practices  most  destructive  to  the  essential  spirit  of 
democracy.  General  indulgence  in  these  follies 
is  attributable  to  ignorance  and  the  undue  develop- 
ment of  the  competitive  spirit.  People  in  America 
do  not  yet  realize  how  intensely  interesting  civic 
affairs  are,  and  how  admirably  adapted  to  the 
beautiful  and  happy  use  of  leisure  are  the  common 

i68 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

services  of  thought  and  action  which  are  the  privi- 
lege of  citizens  in  a  modern  city. 

During  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  a  great 
awakening  of  interest  in  municipal  art  as  evidenced 
by  the  formation  of  improvement  societies  and  art 
clubs  throughout  the  country,  and  the  practical 
application  of  the  principles  of  art  to  municipal 
affairs  in  some  instances.  In  New  York  recently, 
the  authorities  discovered  that  lamp  posts  and 
street  signs  could  be  made  beautiful.  This  move- 
ment, however,  is  much  narrower  than  it  should 
be.  Democracy  is  interested  in  municipal  art  as 
a  means  to  the  development  of  a  higher  type  of 
citizenship,  and  the  great  need  of  citizenship  is  the 
intelligence  and  character  to  prefer  a  leisure  devoted 
to  social  service  rather  than  a  continuous  round  of 
"  social  engagements  "  which  cultivate  stupidity, 
and  make  the  day's  work  a  meaningless  grind. 
I  do  not  wish  to  inveigh  against  relaxation  or  ani- 
mated recreation,  but  to  insist  that  an  appreciation 
of  the  vitality  of  civic  interests  would  soon  make 
itself  felt  in  the  people's  leisure,  and  discussion  of 
public  affairs  would  be  a  very  welcome  substitute 
for  many  less  important  and  less  interesting  topics 
of  conversation  now  in  vogue. 

Civic  spirit  manifests  itself  chiefly  in  the  use  of 
leisure.  It  involves  a  change  of  character  through 
growth  and  expansion.  It  involves  a  wider  concep- 
tion of  duty,  which  comes  by  the  awakening  of  the 
social  conscience.  Self-seeking  is  transformed  into 
social  service  as  the  mainspring  of  citizenship.     It 

169 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

is  a  curious  characteristic  of  human  nature,  at  least 
in  American  cities,  that  men  seem  to  tire  of  law 
and  duty  during  their  work  hours,  and  consequently 
strive  in  their  uses  of  leisure  to  establish  their  lib- 
erty to  do  as  they  please  by  coquetting  with  vice 
and  crime  and  getting  as  nearly  beyond  the  ethical 
bounds  formally  established  by  society  as  they  can 
or  dare.  People  want  to  be  just  a  little. wicked,  in 
order  to  prove,  I  suppose,  the  freedom  of  the  will. 
This  tendency,  which  shows  itself  in  recreation  and 
social  pleasures,  is  a  manifestation  of  the  wildness 
that  flows  in  the  blood  of  all  men,  and  has  come 
down  as  an  inheritance  from  barbarism  and 
savagery.  The  control  of  leisure,  to  bring  men's 
pleasures  up  to  a  higher  ethical  standard,  consistent 
with  freedom  as  the  end  and  aim  of  democracy,  is, 
perchance,  the  next  great  step  in  the  development 
of  human  nature.  This  forward  step  is  imperative 
in  cities,  for  without  it  civilization  becomes  halt  and 
the  artificial  life  runs  amuck. 

It  should  be  the  aim  of  every  city  to  encourage 
conditions  under  which  the  passion  for  service 
becomes  as  eligible  as  the  passion  for  gold.  De- 
mocracy has  freedom  for  its  aim.  It  must  sternly 
reject  the  gaudy  allurements  of  license  and  refuse 
the  intoxicating  cup  of  vice.  Along  with  the  stern 
repression  of  lawlessness  and  public  disorder,  there 
must  be  included  in  our  municipal  policy  the  culti- 
vation of  right  uses  of  leisure,  which  naturally 
follow  from  the  recognition  of  the  meaning  of 
brotherhood  and  social  unity.     A  work  of  art  is,  in 

170 


THE   CONTROL  OF   LEISURE 

its  nature,  unfitted  for  exclusive  private  possession. 
Lurking  underneath  most  forms  of  vice,  I  fancy, 
is  the  fundamentally  erroneous  notion  that  the 
beautiful  can  be  owned.  Art  and  the  aesthetic 
principle  are  essentially  social,  and  the  open  door 
for  the  development  of  civic  spirit  and  the  higher 
citizenship  is  in  the  direction  of  chaste  municipal 
art.  By  this  means  the  people  may  be  most  easily 
led  into  the  spirit  of  cooperation  and  mutual 
helpfulness  so  necessary  to  the  success  of  city 
government,  even  from  the  financial  point  of  view. 
The  apparently  vicious  tendencies  of  the  majority 
of  the  people  of  cities  Hke  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia, as  evidenced  by  the  frequent  votes  of  confidence 
given  to  political  organizations  known  to  thrive 
upon  the  protection  of  crime  and  the  encourage- 
ment of  vice,  while  not  calculated  to  inspire  the 
friends  of  democracy  with  hope,  should  not  be 
accepted  as  absolute  and  conclusive  evidence  of 
unchangeable  corruption.  Much  is  already  being 
done  in  the  name  of  better  things.  Boston  has  its 
wonderful  system  of  public  baths,  bathing  beaches, 
and  gymnasia,  which  cannot  fail  to  influence  for 
good  the  rising  generation  of  citizens.  New  York 
is  extending  its  parks,  and  is  building  baths  and 
comfort  stations  for  its  people.  Through  its 
system  of  free  lectures,  it  furnishes  entertainment 
and  instruction  to  many  thousands  of  its  adult 
citizens,  and  it  is  making  the  public  school  some- 
thing more  than  a  children's  institution.  San 
Francisco   has  awakened  to  a  new  era   of    civic 

171 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

pride  and  civic  duty,  largely  through  the  efforts 
of  its  great  Merchants'  Association.  Baltimore 
has  a  fine  series  of  public  baths  through  the  gen- 
erosity of  one  of  its  wealthy  citizens.  Parks, 
playgrounds,  and  libraries  are  being  estabHshed 
with  great  enthusiasm  in  many  cities. 

Yet  the  municipal  ledger  still  shows  a  great 
deficit  so  far  as  public  provision  for  the  control  of 
the  people's  leisure  is  concerned.  Here  is  room 
for  endless  activity.  Our  program  for  the  check- 
ing of  vice  and  the  building-up  of  the  best  type  of 
democratic  citizenship  should  include  :  — 

1.  All  kinds  of  helpful  social  activity  that  will 
tend  to  increase  the  usefulness  of  the  school  and 
the  school  building  as  a  social  center. 

2.  The  performance  on  the  part  of  the  city  of 
all  the  public  functions  which  the  saloon  has  now 
appropriated  to  itself,  such  as  the  supply  of  safe 
and  attractive  drinking  water,  the  supply  of  toilet 
conveniences,  and  the  provision  of  a  place  where 
social  life  may  centre  without  the  dollar  mark  on 
it. 

3.  The  provision  of  accessible  public  parks, 
athletic  fields,  gymnasia,  public  baths,  and  other 
means  of  physical  activity  for  health  and  recrea- 
tion. 

4.  The  active  cultivation  of  municipal  art  by  the 
suppression  of  nuisances,  such  as  unsightly  poles, 
flaming  bill-boards,  repulsive  advertisements,  and 
the  contamination  of  the  air  with  smoke  and  dust, 
by  the  construction  of  beautiful  public  buildings, 

172 


THE   CONTROL   OF   LEISURE 

and  the  adornment  of  the  streets  and  other  public 
places ;  and,  in  the  great  cities,  by  the  estabUsh- 
ment  of  art  galleries,  museums,  and  municipal 
theatres. 

5.  The  encouragement  of  civic  devotion,  through 
the  use  of  municipal  ceremonials,  the  attractive  re- 
port to  the  citizens  of  official  action,  and  especially 
the  bona  fide  effort  to  serve  the  interests  of  the 
people  so  that  they  will  love  and  respect  their  gov- 
ernment rather  than  distrust  and  despise  it. 

6.  Most  important  of  all,  the  cultivation  by  all 
possible  means,  public  as  well  as  private,  of  the 
ideal  of  civic  righteousness  as  the  only  safe  basis 
of  freedom  and  the  only  legitimate  source  of  civic 
pride. 


173 


CHAPTER  VI 

MUNICIPAL  INSURANCE 

The  farmer  may  burn  in  his  bed,  but  if  he 
suffers  that  fate,  it  is  usually  because  he  has  not 
cleaned  his  own  chimney  or  has  not  covered  his 
own  hearth.  If  the  city  man  burns  in  bed,  it  is 
generally  because  some  one  else  has  been  careless 
with  fire.  When  a  farmer  goes  out  driving,  he  may 
run  great  risk  of  being  thrown  out  of  his  vehicle 
and  killed,  but  in  general  his  safety  depends  upon 
his  own  strength  and  skill  as  a  horseman.  When 
the  city  man  takes  a  street-car  ride,  or  intrusts 
himself  to  an  elevator  to  be  let  down  a  couple  of 
hundred  feet  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  his  safety 
depends  hardly  at  all  on  his  own  strength  or  skill, 
but  upon  the  adjustment  of  machinery  that  he 
seldom  understands  and  the  faithfulness  of  work- 
men for  whom  he  individually  is  not  responsible. 
If  the  farmer  drinks  from  his  well  and  gets 
typhoid  fever  from  it,  he  may  thank  himself  for 
polluting  his  own  water-supply ;  and  if  his  milk  is 
unclean,  he  is  the  man  that  failed  to  wash  the  cow. 
But  the  city  man  must  drink  from  a  well  which 
may  be  polluted  from  any  one  of  a  hundred  sources 
over-  which  he  has  no  control,  or  from  the  city 
174 


MUNICIPAL   INSURANCE 

mains  through  which  he  may  receive  the  germs  of 
fever  carefully  brought  to  his  door  by  the  public 
waterworks  from  a  sewage-polluted  river;  and  as 
for  the  milk  he  drinks,  most  likely  he  never  saw 
the  cow  that  gave  it  or  the  place  it  came  from. 
Illustrations  might  be  multiplied,  but  let  these 
suffice.  The  point  is  that  in  the  country,  though  a 
man's  life  and  property  may  be  in  greater  danger 
than  in  the  city,  still  safety  generally  depends  upon 
the  man  himself,  —  his  foresight,  his  courage,  his 
agiUty,  his  carefulness,  his  character,  in  short; 
while  in  the  city  a  man's  life  and  property  are 
being  continuously  put  in  the  hands  of  the  commu- 
nity at  large,  and  responsibility  for  their  safety 
must  be  collective.  Out  of  this  necessity  arise 
those  special  forms  of  municipal  insurance  which 
are  furnished  by  police,  fire,  building,  health,  and 
charity  departments. 

The  police  department  stands  in  a  general  way 
for  law  and  order,  the  protection  of  citizens  while 
engaged  in  legitimate  pursuits  from  the  interfer- 
ence of  those  who  are  disposed,  through  careless- 
ness or  social  insubordination,  to  violate  the  rules 
of  civic  life  which  are  made  necessary  by  the  com- 
plications of  existence  in  cities.  The  magnitude  of 
the  work  of  the  police  departments  of  our  cities  is 
suggested  by  the  fact  that  in  the  course  of  a  year 
one  arrest  is  made  for  every  twenty  inhabitants,  — 
men,  women,  and  children.  These  arrests  are  for 
crimes,  misdemeanors,  and  petty  offences  of  all 
kinds,  considerably  more  than  half  of  the  whole 

175 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

number  being  for  drunkenness  and  disturbing  the 
peace. 

The  functions  of  the  police  are  manifold.  First 
and  foremost,  the  police  officer  is  the  watchman 
who  stands  guard  over  the  lives  and  property  of 
citizens,  so  that  they  may  go  about  their  business 
and  pleasures  with  a  sense  of  security,  or,  more 
truly,  without  a  sense  of  danger.  This  function  is 
not  fully  performed,  and  in  some  cities  there  is 
great  danger  in  passing  along  certain  streets  at 
night  and  considerable  danger  in  going  to  sleep  in 
one's  own  house  with  any  treasures.  In  the  cities 
of  more  than  100,000  population  there  are  over 
8000  arrests  for  house-breaking  in  a  single  year, 
nearly  50,000  for  larceny,  and  upwards  of  42,000 
for  vagrancy,  including  loitering,  loafing,  begging, 
tramping,  etc.  The  efficiency  of  the  police  in 
protecting  citizens  from  robbers  and  burglars  is  a 
variable  quantity  from  city  to  city  and  from  time  to 
time.  Chicago  has  a  rather  bad  reputation  along 
this  line,  and  there  are  times  in  almost  every  city 
when  there  is  a  sort  of  epidemic  of  crimes  of  this 
kind.  Undoubtedly,  however,  the  dark  places  in 
the  great  cities  are  being  cleared  up,  so  that  there 
are  comparatively  few  streets  in  America  where  a 
citizen  may  not  go  in  safety  at  any  time  of  day  or 
night  if  he  is  sober  and  goes  about  his  business. 
It  is  also  becoming  generally  safer  for  respectable 
women  to  go  out  evenings  without  escorts. 

The  inefficiency  of  the  police,  where  they  are 
inefficient,  can  be  accounted  for  largely  by  the 
176 


MUNICIPAL   INSURANCE 

semi-alliance  with  the  criminal  classes  which,  in 
the  opinion  of  some  police  officers,  is  necessary, 
and,  in  the  opinion  of  others,  profitable.  It  is 
stated  by  Mr.  Steffens  in  McClnre's  Magazine  that 
the  acting  mayor  of  Minneapolis,  after  Dr.  Ames 
had  fled,  was  approached  by  representatives  of  the 
criminal  fraternity  who  offered  their  assistance  to 
him  in  regulating  crime.^  This  assistance  was 
steadfastly  refused  in  spite  of  alleged  extraordinary 
outbreaks  after  each  refusal.  But  the  acting 
mayor  did  not  consider  an  alliance  with  criminals 
for  the  control  of  crime  an  impossible  suggestion, 
and  said  he  was  not  sure  but  he  should  have  recon- 
sidered the  question  if  he  had  been  going  to  serve 
a  full  term  as  mayor.  This  notion  that  "  it  takes 
a  thief  to  catch  a  thief  "  is  tolerably  widespread, 
and  in  its  practical  workings  furnishes  the  founda- 
tion for  Tolstoy's  indictment  of  our  whole  system 
of   punishment.2     In  ordinary  times   and  without 

^  "The  Shame  of  Minneapolis,"  in  the  January,  1903,  issue. 

2  In  Resurrection,  Tolstoy  draws  an  especially  terrible  picture  of 
our  system  of  punishment  by  which  "  respectable "  rogues  sit  in 
judgment  on  the  bench  and  in  the  jury  box  upon  their  fellows. 
Tolstoy's  ideas  are  based  upon  the  Christian  doctrine  of  non-resist- 
ance applied  to  society  as  a  whole  ;  but  many  a  man  who  believes 
in  vengeance  will  nevertheless  balk  at  the  spectacle  of  a  drunkard 
or  a  libertine  sitting  on  the  bench  to  pass  society's  sentences  upon 
the  poor  wretches  who  are  caught  in  vice.  For  a  sheriff,  whose 
constant  aim  is  to  steal  all  he  can  from  the  public  treasury,  to  go 
thief-catching  is  almost  intolerable.  Yet  it  is  one  of  the  peculiar 
weaknesses  of  political  institutions  that  they  often  fall  into  the  con- 
trol of  men  who  would  do  honor  to  the  criminal  standards  of  a 
penitentiary. 

N  177 


THE   AxMERICAN    CITY 

any  startling  revelations  of  official  complicity  with 
vice  and  crime,  citizens  are  loath  to  believe  Tol- 
stoyan  charges.  But  special  investigations  and 
close  observation  all  too  often  reveal  glimpses  of  a 
subterranean  world  where  the  accredited  agents 
of  civilization  join  hands  with  its  deadly  enemies. 

This  condition  of  affairs  is  doubtless  made  possi- 
ble by  a  general  spirit  of  lawlessness  in  the  com- 
munity. While  most  citizens  are  strongly  in  favor 
of  law  and  order  when  it  applies  to  their  neighbors, 
comparatively  few  have  attained  to  the  ideal  spirit 
of  democracy  where  they  are  in  favor  of  law  en- 
forcement when  it  infringes  upon  their  own  free- 
dom of  action.  A  strict  enforcement  of  all  the 
salutary  ordinances  and  rules  made  necessary  by 
the  complex  conditions  of  city  life  would  probably 
antagonize  a  large  majority  of  the  people  in  an 
average  American  city.  This  is  the  result  of  the 
backwardness  of  human  nature.  The  ordinary 
type  of  this  commodity  still  in  use  is  out  of  date, 
suitable  perhaps  for  conditions  that  existed  a  cen- 
tury ago,  but  entirely  inadequate  to  the  demands  of 
the  present  time.  Social  consciousness  is  crude 
and  undeveloped  when  compared  with  the  condi- 
tions that  demand  it.  The  danger  to  our  civiliza- 
tion and  to  democracy  is  that  responsibility  tends 
to  outrun  ability  to  respond,  and  the  immediately 
pressing  problem  of  our  time  is  the  development 
of  the  responding  organs.  The  natural  result  of 
the  individualistic  spirit,  which  expects  a  man 
knowingly  to  vote  for  his  own  interest  against  the 
178 


MUNICIPAL   INSURANCE 

public  welfare  when  the  issue  is  drawn,  and  ap- 
plauds him  for  doing  so,  forces  the  police  authori- 
ties into  an  equivocal  position,  where  the  line  of 
least  resistance  is  in  the  direction  of  an  understand- 
ing with  the  violators  of  law. 

This  aUiance  does  not  destroy  altogether  the 
efficiency  of  the  police  in  the  performance  of  cer- 
tain functions  for  as  a  rule  only  certain  kinds  of 
vice  and  crime  are  protected.  The  thoroughly 
honest  citizen  who  has  no  desire  to  get  something 
for  nothing  or  to  break  the  law  himself  is  seldom 
directly  affected  by  police  laxity.  It  is  the  swin- 
dler, the  gambling-house  keeper,  the  dive-master, 
the  Sunday  liquor  seller,  and  their  ilk  that  receive 
official  protection.  They  desire  to  prey  upon  the 
greed,  the  passions,  the  ignorance,  and  the  insubor- 
dination of  citizens,  and  commit  their  crimes,  as  it 
were,  in  response  to  a  popular  demand.  The  good 
citizen  hardly  knows  that  he  is  hurt  by  the  follies 
of  his  neighbors.  It  is  only  after  the  police  au- 
thorities go  into  peculation  and  crime  as  their  main 
business,  using  their  official  duties  as  a  cloak,  as 
they  have  done  at  times  in  New  York  under  Tam- 
many, that  the  honest  citizen  begins  to  feel  the  heel 
of  tyranny  upon  his  own  neck.  Then,  if  you  are  a 
builder,  you  must  bribe  the  building  department,  or 
submit  to  ruinous  delays  in  the  approval  of  your 
building  plans  ;  if  you  are  a  laborer,  you  must  vote 
as  you  are  told,  or  lose  your  job  ;  if  you  are  a  mer- 
chant, you  must  pay  your  blackmail  or  endure 
unnecessary   and   damaging    interference    in   the 

179 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

handling  of  your  goods ;  if  you  bid  for  a  city  con- 
tract, you  must  pay  a  rake-off  or  have  your  bid  re- 
jected no  matter  how  low  it  may  be.  At  this  point  in 
the  development  of  the  police  disease,  when  the 
whole  city  is  sick  with  political  anaemia,  a  great  revul- 
sion of  public  sentiment  is  likely  to  come,  resulting  in 
a  mighty  effort  to  shake  off  the  leeches  from  the 
city's  neck.  "  An  ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a 
pound  of  cure,"  however.  There  is  no  evidence  to 
show  that  a  city  ever  wholly  recovers  the  moral 
and  political  virtue  lost  by  police  corruption ; 
for  police  corruption  is  as  often  as  not  a  result 
of  popular  corruption,  and,  in  any  case,  cannot  long 
continue  without  resulting  in  the  degradation  of 
public  sentiment. 

The  police  magistrate  in  any  great  city  has  a 
position  of  peculiar  responsibility.  If  his  court  is 
a  bulwark  of  justice  mingled  with  mercy,  his 
influence  for  good  is  unmeasured  among  that 
large  class  of  people  in  every  community  who 
approach,  at  some  time  or  other  in  their  lives,  the 
borderland  of  crime.  On  the  other  hand,  when 
the  magistrate  is  brutal,  ignorant,  or  corrupt,  or 
uses  his  position  to  build  up  for  himself  a  political 
following,  one  of  the  principal  educational  institu- 
tions of  the  municipality  is  turned  into  a  school  of 
depravity.  The  city  that  tolerates  such  a  police 
judge  is  committing  suicide.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  ascertain  the  general  efficiency  of  the  police 
courts  of  American  cities,  but  it  is  well  known  in 
many  places  that  the  judges  are  not  as  high- 
i8o 


uNiveRsn  Y 

or        . 

MUNICIPALTNSURANCE 


minded,  intelligent,  and  courageous  men  as  they 
ought  to  be.  It  seems  probable  that  conditions 
are  improving.  Certainly  the  movement  toward 
juvenile  courts  and  the  separation  of  first  offenders 
from  hardened  criminals  has  gained  much  head- 
way, and  it  seems  hardly  possible  that  the  abomi- 
nations of  the  Tammany  magistrates*  courts  of 
New  York  City,  as  they  flourished  prior  to  1895, 
will  again  be  possible  for  any  considerable  period 
in  the  near  future. 

The  police  department  has  other  functions 
besides  the  prevention  and  punishment  of  crime. 
The  poHcemen  protect  and  preserve  the  parks 
and  playgrounds.  They  maintain  order  at  public 
meetings.  They  keep  the  way  clear  for  street 
processions  and  parades.  They  stand  guard  at 
dangerous  street  crossings  and  help  pedestrians 
over.  They  catch  runaway  horses  and  impound 
unmuzzled  dogs.  They  take  care  of  lost  purses 
and  parcels.  They  give  information  about  their 
city  to  strangers.  They  turn  in  fire-alarms  and 
do  many  other  friendly  services  for  which  the 
community  owes  them  a  debt  of  gratitude. 

There  is  a  side  of  the  policeman's  life  that  is 
very  attractive  to  youths.  His  uniform  makes  him 
a  striking  figure.  His  duties  involve  considerable 
danger  and  occasional  opportunities  for  heroism. 
His  miscellaneous  services  make  him  useful  to 
people.  Indeed,  the  policeman  has  almost,  if  not 
quite,  as  great  an  opportunity  for  influencing  the 
morals  of  youth  as  the  school-teacher.     It  is  all 

181 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

the  more  a  pity  that  groups  of  boys  often  get  to 
look  upon  the  policeman  as  their  natural  enemy, 
and  the  policeman  gets  to  look  upon  the  boys  as 
the  most  lawless  of  citizens.  This  unhappy  mis- 
understanding is  partly  due,  in  some  cases,  to 
official  brutality  and  ignorance,  but  the  main  cause 
for  it  is  the  premium  put  upon  youthful  lawless- 
ness by  the  careless  city  that  provides  not  for  its 
children.  Playgrounds,  vacation  schools,  public 
baths,  gymnasia,  athletic  fields,  and  the  Hke  enter- 
prises are  the  means  by  which  the  policeman  and 
the  boys  can  be  brought  into  harmony  to  the 
infinite  advantage  of  both. 

The  great  cities  of  America  maintain  side  by 
side  at  enormous  expense  two  departments  of 
municipal  government,  —  one  for  the  education 
of  citizens,  and  one  for  their  correction.  To  a 
considerable  extent  the  efficiency  of  the  former 
renders  the  latter  unnecessary.  Yet  Philadelphia 
spends  ^700,000  more  in  a  year  for  correction  than 
for  education.  Possibly  that  partly  accounts  for 
her  notoriety  as  a  "  corrupt  and  contented  "  city. 
The  38  cities  having  over  100,000  population  each, 
and  an  aggregate  population  of  a  little  over  14,000,- 
000,  spend  about  $60,000,000  annually  for  schools, 
libraries,  museums,  etc.,  and  $38,000,000  for  the 
police,  police  courts,  jails,  etc.  This  shows  an 
expenditure  of  ^j  per  cent  more  money  for  edu- 
cation than  for  correction,  the  average  for  the 
latter  being  $2.51  per  capita.  The  percentage 
of  excess  in  expenditures  for  the  one  department 
182 


MUNICIPAL   INSURANCE 

or  the  other  in  the  principal  cities  is  shown  by  the 
following  table :  — 


CITY 

EXCESS  IN   EXPENDITURE 

For  education 

For  correction 

New  York 

Chicago 

Philadelphia 

St.  Louis 

Boston 

Baltimore 

Cleveland 

Buffalo 

San  Francisco 

Cincinnati 

Pittsburg 

New  Orleans 

Detroit 

Milwaukee 

Washington 

1 8  cities  with  from  30,154 
to  33,988  population  .     . 

per  cent 

78 

112 

15 

34 
151 

54 

28 

76 

98 

82 

66 
118 

25 

232 

per  cent 

20 
9 

In  the  38  principal  cities  there  are  about 
25,000  policemen,  or  approximately  one  for  every 
570  inhabitants.  There  are  about  twice  as  many 
school-teachers,  who  are  on  the  average  paid  con- 
siderably less  for  their  services  than  the  poHce 
officers. 

In  a  study  of  the  cost  of  the  police  and  edu- 

183 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

cational  departments  of  city  government,  either 
comparatively  or  otherwise,  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  by  no  means  all  the  effort  and  expense 
involved  in  these  great  functions  are  carried  by 
the  cities  in  their  corporate  capacity.  In  the 
Eastern  states,  especially,  vast  sums  of  money  are 
spent  in  the  support  of  private  schools,  and  large 
amounts  are  also  spent  privately  in  various  cities 
for  police  protection.  The  various  detective  agen- 
cies and  the  companies  organized  to  furnish  night 
watchmen  have  a  liberal  patronage.  Indeed,  it  is 
said  that  a  considerable  share  of  the  police  work 
in  New  Orleans  is  done  by  a  private  company. 
This  is  evidenced  by  the  comparatively  small 
number  of  city  police  officers  and  the  small  pub- 
lic expenditure  in  that  city.  With  a  population 
greater  than  Detroit,  New  Orleans  has  only  a  few 
more  than  half  as  many  policemen,  and  spends 
less  than  half  as  much  money  on  the  service. 

Making  allowance  for  such  exceptional  cities  as 
New  Orleans,  the  public  expenditures  for  the  police 
increase  rapidly  with  the  size  of  the  cities,  so  that 
in  those  of  over  a  million  population  the  cost  of 
the  police  is  shown  to  be  three  times  as  much 
per  capita  as  in  cities  of  from  30,000  to  40,000.^ 

American  cities  need  to  become  more  law-abid- 
ing. This  result  cannot  be  brought  about  by 
police   supervision   alone.       There   is   needed   an 

1  These  estimates  are  made  from  the  "  Statistics  of  Cities," 
published  in  the  United  States  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of 
Labor t  September,  1902. 

184 


MUNICIPAL   INSURANCE 

awakening  of  intelligence  to  the  point  where  the 
city  will  take  more  pains  with  the  education  of 
youth,  and  will  inculcate  by  precept  and  example 
the  necessity  of  subordinating  private  interests  to 
public  welfare.  The  policeman  should  be  re- 
garded as  the  friend  of  all  good  citizens,  the  argus- 
eyed  guardian  of  public  order,  the  brave  champion 
of  law  who  takes  his  life  in  his  hand  for  the  pro- 
tection of  our  liberties.  The  policeman  ought  to 
be  brought  into  closer  touch  with  the  moral  and 
educational  forces  of  the  community,  both  for  his 
own  sake  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  service.  If 
he  spends  his  years  in  constant  contact  with 
thieves,  prostitutes,  and  drunkards,  it  is  to  be  ex- 
pected that  his  moral  sensibilities  will  be  deadened. 
Police  officers  as  a  rule  have  little  faith  in  human 
nature.  They  know  the  dark  side  of  so  many  so- 
called  respectable  citizens'  lives  that  they  come  to 
regard  movements  for  the  eradication  of  vice  as 
impractical  and  harmful.  Their  attitude  toward 
the  social  evil  is  significant.  It  is  believed  that 
the  police  almost  universally  aim  to  confine  pros- 
titution to  certain  districts  and  let  it  alone  except 
when  it  allies  itself  with  other  evils  which  are 
generally  regarded  with  more  aversion.  The 
police  favor  confining  prostitution  to  certain  quar- 
ters so  that  a  man  who  is  robbed  or  who  catches  a 
contagious  disease  in  a  bawdy  house  may  make 
more  effective  complaint.  In  other  words,  they 
regard  prostitution  as  a  social  necessity,  and  strive 
to  make  it  safe.     They  are   not  idealists.     They 

185 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

need  a  broader  education  in  social  ethics.  All 
possible  means  should  be  used  to  increase  the  useful- 
ness of  the  police  force  along  other  than  purely 
corrective  lines,  and  to  bring  the  police  officers  into 
closer  contact  and  more  sympathy  with  the  law- 
abiding  elements  and  the  educational  forces  of 
the  community. 

The  fire  department  is  perhaps  the  most  pic- 
turesque and  popular  of  all  the  municipal  depart- 
ments. The  sudden  call,  the  magnificent  response, 
the  horses,  machinery,  and  men,  all  moving  swiftly 
through  the  crowded  streets  to  the  scene  of  dan- 
ger, would  give  to  the  activities  of  the  fire  force 
a  prestige  in  popular  favor,  even  if  the  people 
were  generally  unconscious  of  the  dreadful  dan- 
gers and  the  terrible  heroisms  of  fire  fighting. 
There  is,  perhaps,  nothing  before  which  the  wealth 
and  grandeur  of  a  great  city  sinks  so  quickly  into 
insignificance  as  fire.  There  is  no  enemy  that  so 
constantly  threatens  to  imperil  the  life  and  property 
of  every  citizen  of  a  great  city  as  fire.  The  great 
fires  in  Chicago  and  Boston  in  the  early  seventies 
are  among  the  most  terrible  events  of  American 
history,  and  in  recent  years  the  Paterson  and 
Baltimore  fires,  the  hotel  holocausts  in  New  York, 
and  the  Iroquois  theatre  fire  in  Chicago  make 
one's  breath  come  quick  to  think  of  the  responsi- 
bility for  life  that  rests  upon  the  fire  and  building 
departments  of  every  great  city.  A  hotel,  or 
tenement-house,  not  properly  constructed  or  pro- 
vided with  means  of  escape  in    case  of  fire,  is  a 

i86 


MUNICIPAL   INSURANCE 

death-trap  more  ghastly  than  any  other  ;  for  in  it, 
in  the  midst  of  civilization,  comfort,  and  peace, 
men,  women,  and  children  put  their  lives  almost 
without  reservation  into  the  care  of  others.  They 
have  a  right  to  expect  a  degree  of  safety  impossi- 
ble on  a  railroad  train  or  in  a  mine.  It  is  these 
terrible  moments  of  danger  that  give  dramatic 
interest  to  the  fire  department. 

The  total  property  loss  by  fire  in  cities  of  more 
than  30,000  population  is  approximately  $60,000,000 
in  an  average  year,  resulting  from  about  60,000  fires. 
There  are,  besides,  a  good  many  false  alarms  which 
set  the  machinery  of  the  department  in  motion 
and  test  its  eflficiency.  It  is  estimated  that  the  fire 
losses  covered  by  insurance  in  the  various  under- 
writing companies  amount  to  about  60  per  cent  of 
the  premiums  paid.  This  means  that  it  costs  the 
cities  about  $100,000,000  per  year  for  fire  insur- 
ance, besides  the  cost  of  the  municipal  fire  depart- 
ments. These  cost  approximately  $25,000,000  a 
year,  so  that  fires  and  protection  from  them  cost 
the  cities  about  $125,000,000  annually.  Municipal 
fire  departments  are  kept  up  to  a  standard  of 
eiBciency,  partly  through  the  general  recognition 
of  their  responsibility,  and  partly  through  the  con- 
stant pressure  exerted  by  the  fire-insurance  com- 
panies in  raising  or  lowering  rates  in  accordance 
with  the  efficiency  of  service.  The  department 
has  not  complete  control  over  its  own  efficiency, 
however,  for  it  is  largely  dependent  upon  the  water 
pressure  furnished  by  the  city  for  its  use. 

187 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  largest  cities, 
including  all  those  with  a  population  of  more  than 
half  a  million,  spend  less  than  half  as  much  on 
their  fire  departments  as  they  do  for  police  pro- 
tection ;  while  in  cities  of  less  than  50,000  popu- 
lation the  expenditures  for  the  two  kinds  of 
protection  are  nearly  equal.  Indeed,  there  are 
eleven  cities  with  more  than  100,000  population 
where  the  fire  department  costs  more  than  police 
protection.  This  comparison  indicates  that  the 
fire  service  is  a  more  constant  factor  in  the  life 
of  cities,  and  less  given  over  to  fluctuations  of  po- 
litical extravagance,  than  the  police  department. 
The  generally  excellent  service  rendered  by  Ameri- 
can municipal  fire  departments  points  to  the  tre- 
mendous power  for  good  that  can  be  exerted  over 
government  by  a  well-organized  private  interest 
of  practically  universal  character,  such  as  fire 
insurance.  If  the  police  department  could  be 
subjected  to  some  such  pressure,  there  would  be 
a  great  cleansing  of  the  Augaean  stables.  It  is 
not  contended  here  that  all  fire  departments  are 
free  from  corruption.  Tammany  influences  cor- 
rupt every  department  in  a  city's  administration. 
But  corruption  in  the  fire  department  is  checked 
before  it  materially  diminishes  the  efficiency  of  the 
service. 

The  inspection  of  steam  boilers  and  the  regula- 
tion of  the  storage  of  explosives  and  combustibles 
often  form  a  part  of  the  duties  of  the  fire  depart- 
ment.    Boiler  inspection  is  also  carried  on  by  pri- 

188 


MUNICIPAL  INSURANCE 

vate  companies.  In  some  cities,  indeed,  the  fire 
underwriters  maintain  a  salvage  corps  whose 
business  it  is  to  attend  fires  and  supplement  the 
efforts  of  the  municipal  force  in  saving  property. 
In  the  case  of  boiler  inspection,  however,  the  work 
of  the  municipal  department  is  generally  supple- 
mental to  that  of  the  private  companies. 

The  importance  of  the  inspection  of  buildings 
in  great  cities  is  not  generally  appreciated  in  full. 
We  have  the  authority  of  the  last  Tenement  House 
Commission  of  New  York  for  the  statement  that 
more  than  one-half  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
American  metropolis  are  dependent  upon  the  strong 
arm  of  law  for  safe  housing.  Under  the  condi- 
tions that  arise  where  population  is  congested,  the 
ordinary  motives  of  self-protection  and  desire  for 
profit  are  inadequate  to  make  buildings  safe  and 
sanitary.  The  erection  of  suitable  fire-escapes  is 
one  matter  of  prime  importance.  Supervision  of 
the  electric  wiring  of  buildings  at  the  time  of  their 
construction  is  another  such  matter.  The  frequent 
inspection  of  elevators  and  the  guarantee  of  their 
safety  has  become  a  prime  necessity  in  modern 
office  buildings  and  stores.  The  occasional  disas- 
ters that  result  from  the  collapse  of  a  building,  the 
explosion  of  a  boiler,  the  falling  of  an  elevator,  the 
wreck  of  a  street  car,  or  the  destruction  of  a  hotel 
or  theatre  by  fire  serve  as  powerful  reminders  of 
absolute  dangers  against  which  we  are  insured  by 
municipal  inspection  or  under  municipal  control. 
The  necessity  of  public  interference  on  behalf  of 
189 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

general  safety  is  notorious.  There  is  a  class  of 
men  who,  actuated  by  ignorance  or  blinded  by 
greed,  and  devoid  of  any  sense  of  social  responsi- 
bility, will  build  fine-looking  death-traps  for  profit 
only.  There  is  no  officer  in  a  large  city  who  needs 
more  intelligence  and  downright  courage  than  the 
building  inspector.  Under  Tammany  the  New 
York  building  department  was  one  of  .  the  most 
corrupt.  Of  333  tenement-houses  under  construc- 
tion three  or  four  years  ago,  inspected  by  the 
Tenement  House  Commission,  only  15  were  being 
built  without  any  violation  of  the  law. 

Coercion  is  required  in  large  cities  to  keep  build- 
ings up  to  right  standards  in  three  main  directions 
—  safety  from  fire,  safety  from  collapse,  and  sani- 
tary safety.  Not  much  is  required  of  the  ordinary 
one  or  two  story  dwelling-house  or  shop,  in  the 
first  two  particulars,  and,  in  a  general  way,  sani- 
tary inspection  may  in  these  cases  be  confined  to 
the  plumbing,  except  in  the  worst  slum  districts. 
The  requirement  of  fire-proof  construction  or  of 
adequate  facilities  for  quick  escape,  in  case  of  fire, 
is  chiefly  important  in  the  case  of  factories,  big 
stores,  public  buildings,  office  buildings,  hotels, 
and  apartment  and  tenement  houses  of  three  or 
more  stories.  The  danger  from  collapse  is  also 
practically  confined  to  these  classes  of  buildings. 
Sanitary  regulations  are  of  greatest  importance  in 
densely  populated  tenement-house  districts,  where 
the  dangers  from  defective  plumbing  are  multi- 
plied, and  ventilation,  light,  and  adequate  sleeping 

190 


MUNICIPAL  INSURANCE 

room  are  often  wanting.  Building  inspection  is  one 
of  the  public  necessities  arising  from  the  growth  of 
cities.  The  minute  regulations  of  the  ordinances 
are  often  annoying  and  expensive  to  the  builder, 
but  they  would  be  much  less  so  if  the  citizens  gen- 
erally acknowledged  their  necessity  and  strove  to 
conform  to  them  rather  than  to  evade  them. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  contributions  made 
in  recent  years  to  the  story  of  municipal  gov- 
ernment is  Mr.  Henry  W.  Thurston's  brochure, 
entitled  The  Fight  for  Life  in  Chicago,  recently 
published  by  the  Board  of  Education  of  that  city 
as  the  first  of  a  series  of  "  Municipal  Studies  "  to 
be  prepared  by  the  sociology  department  of  the 
Chicago  Normal  School,  as  a  guide  for  the  study 
of  civics  in  the  public  schools.  The  spirit  of  Mr. 
Thurston's  study  can  best  be  shown  by  quoting 
from  his  opening  paragraphs  :  — 

"We  are  all  familiar,"  says  he,  "with  the  cam- 
paigns of  the  seven  years'  war  which  our  great- 
grandfathers fought  for  independence  from  Eng- 
land. We  have  all  heard  the  brave  story  of  the 
war  between  the  Blue  and  Gray  which  set  free  our 
colored  people.  The  story  of  these  wars,  which 
men  fought  with  sword  and  rifle  and  cannon  to 
the  music  of  song  and  trumpet  and  drum,  is  more 
than  a  twice-told  tale  to  us.  But  the  story  of  the 
seventy  years'  war  right  here  in  Chicago,  the  boys 
and  girls  of  the  city,  and  even  most  of  the  men 
and  women,  have  never  heard.  And  yet  there  has 
been  such  a  war  in  our  city,  a  war  not  for  the  right 

191 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

to  govern  ourselves  as  we  think  best,  a  war  not  to 
free  ourselves  from  slavery,  but  a  war  for  the 
chance  to  live. 

**  When  we  began  the  campaign  in  the  early  days 
of  our  city,  our  enemy  was  so  cruel  that  he  usually 
took  one  out  of  every  thirty  of  our  number  yearly. 
During  one  unusually  fatal  year  we  lost  one  out  of 
every  sixteen,  and  in  1849  one  of  every  fourteen. 

"  But  our  war  has  been  even  more  cruel  than 
these  figures  show;  for,  during  many  years,  more 
than  half  of  those  killed  were  not  old  men  and 
women,  who  had  lived  long  and  happy  lives,  but 
little  children,  less  than  five  years  old,  who  had 
hardly  begun  to  know  how  sweet  and  beautiful  life 
may  be." 

Cholera  broke  out  among  the  United  States 
troops  sent  to  Chicago  in  1832  to  fight  the  Indians. 
The  next  year  the  town  was  organized,  and  the 
fight  against  disease  began  with  the  rule  that  no 
dead  animals  should  be  thrown  into  the  river  within 
the  town  limits.  Scarlet  fever  became  an  epidemic 
in  1843,  ^^^  smallpox  in  1848.  In  1849  the 
cholera  broke  out  again,  and  carried  off  about 
3  per  cent  of  the  population.  Civic  effort  to 
cleanse  the  city  and  protect  life  was  spasmodic. 
"  So  long  as  the  lives  of  citizens  were  exposed  only 
to  the  ordinary  diseases  incident  to  the  country,  no 
attention  was  paid  to  sanitary  measures."  But 
gradually  necessity  compelled  the  city  to  take  up 
the  several  enterprises  required  for  the  protection 
of  public  health,  —  a  pure  water-supply,  a  sanitary 

192 


MUNICIPAL   INSURANCE 

sewerage  system,  the  prompt  removal  of  garbage 
and  refuse,  the  cleansing  of  the  river,  street  clean- 
ing, milk  inspection,  meat  inspection,  the  inspection 
of  other  foods  and  ice,  the  relief  of  overcrowding, 
the  abatement  of  the  smoke  nuisance,  the  establish- 
ment of  public  baths,  etc.  The  city  has  been  only 
partially  successful  in  most  of  these  enterprises. 
The  great  drainage  canal  has  not  yet  fully  cleansed 
the  river,  nor  wholly  removed  the  danger  of  sew- 
age contamination  of  the  water-supply.  The 
smoke  nuisance  has  been  partly  removed,  but 
tenement-house  overcrowding  and  street  filthiness 
have  hardly  been  touched  by  municipal  effort.  In 
1896  the  Department  of  Health  reported  the 
death-rate  to  be  80  per  cent  higher  in  ten  wards 
than  in  ten  other  wards ;  while  in  the  most  un- 
healthful  ward  the  rate  was  364  per  cent  higher 
than  in  the  most  healthful  one.  The  causes  for 
this  difference  were  stated  to  be,  in  the  order  of 
their  relative  importance  :  — 

Firsts  the  condition  of  streets  and  alleys ; 

Second,  the  character  of  the  natural  site ; 

Third,  the  character  of  the  habitations ; 

Fourth,  the  character  of  the  population. 

The  first  three  of  these  causes  are  social,  and 
depend  to  a  considerable  extent  upon  municipal 
endeavor  for  their  removal.  The  life-insurance 
function  of  city  government  is  admirably  stated 
in  another  report  of  the  Chicago  Health  Depart- 
ment. Says  the  commissioner :  "  Neglect  of  intel- 
ligent, well-directed   sanitary   supervision   by  the 

193 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

municipality  for  the  protection  of  its  citizens  is  mu- 
nicipal murder.  The  city  having  assumed  the  sole 
right  to  furnish  water,  drainage,  paving,  police  pro- 
tection, fire  protection,  etc.,  to  the  citizen  in  return 
for  taxes  and  assessments,  is  morally  and  should  be 
legally  bound  to  protect  him  in  the  enjoyment  of 
his  life  and  property,  free  from  any  nuisance  cre- 
ated on  adjoining  property  injurious  to  him." 

One  of  the  most  imperative  functions  of  munici- 
pal government  is  the  protection  of  the  lives  of 
infants.  Infant  mortahty  is  a  pretty  sure  index 
of  municipal  negligence.  Children  under  five 
years  of  age  furnished  only  30  per  cent  of  the 
deaths  in  Chicago  in  1902.  In  the  early  days  the 
percentage  was  fifty  or  sixty.  The  Boston  Depart- 
ment of  Statistics  furnishes  figures  of  infant  mor- 
tality in  Massachusetts  for  the  years  1891  to  1897.^ 
In  Fall  River  255  children  died  under  one  year  of 
age  for  every  1000  births.  The  average  rate  for 
all  cities  of  the  state  was  164.2,  and  for  the  coun- 
try districts  129.5.  In  five  cities  at  least  one  baby 
in  five  died.  The  last  Federal  census  gives  the 
figures  for  the  year  1900  in  all  the  principal  cities 
of  the  country,  and  also  in  nine  states  included  in 
the  registration  area.^  These  states  are  the  six  of 
New  England,  together  with  New  York,  New  Jer- 
sey, and  Michigan.  The  District  of  Columbia  is 
also  included  in  the  area.  Within  these  states  the 
cities  show  an  infant  mortality  of  184.7  P^r  thou- 

1  Monthly  Bulletin,  March,  1900. 

2  Abstract  of  the  Txvelfth  Census,  pp.  197-201. 

194 


MUNICIPAL  INSURANCE 

sand,  while  the  rate  in  the  rural  districts  is  1 1 7.4. 
The  rate  in  New  York  City  is  189.4.  Minneapolis 
and  St.  Paul,  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  and  Rochester, 
New  York,  are  the  only  cities  with  over  100,000 
population  in  which  infant  mortality  is  less  than 
in  the  rural  districts  of  the  registration  states.  In 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Washington,  New  Orleans, 
Memphis,  Detroit,  Providence,  and  Fall  River,  from 
20  to  30  per  cent  of  the  babies  die  before  they  are 
a  year  old.  Richmond,  Virginia,  shows  30  per 
cent,  and  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  42  per  cent. 
These  figures  seem  almost  incredible.  If  the 
death-rate  among  infants  were  the  same  in  the 
cities  as  in  the  rural  districts,  5800  baby  lives 
would  be  saved  every  year  in  New  York  City, 
2400  in  Philadelphia,  1250  in  Boston,  1000  in  Bal- 
timore, 850  in  Chicago,  450  in  Providence,  and  so 
on  through  the  hst. 

Typhoid  fever,  a  disease  that  is  usually  con- 
tracted from  the  use  of  impure  water  or  milk,  is  the 
cause  of  many  deaths  and  of  enormous  expense. 
Pittsburg  and  Allegheny  have  the  unenviable  dis- 
tinction of  standing  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  the 
great  American  cities  in  the  proportion  of  deaths 
caused  by  typhoid  fever.  In  Pittsburg  6.3 1  per  cent 
of  all  deaths  during  the  year  1901  were  from  this 
disease.  The  percentage  in  Allegheny  was  5.53.^ 
It  is  no  wonder  that  these  cities  are  agitating 
the  purification  of   their  water-supply.      The  ex- 

^  See  Bulletin  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Labor ^  Novem- 
ber, 1902. 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

perience  of  Chicago  shows  clearly  how  much 
can  be  accomplished  in  this  way.  The  number  of 
deaths  from  typhoid  decreased  very  strikingly 
when  the  intake  pipes  were  extended  farther  into 
Lake  Michigan  about  ten  years  ago.  The  number 
of  deaths  from  typhoid  was  1008  in  1890;  1997  in 
1891  ;  1489  in  1892;  and  only  670  in  1893.  In 
1900  the  total  number  was  337;  in  1901,.  509;  and 
in  1902,  801.  But  it  is  needless  to  present  figures 
to  prove  that  a  pure  water-supply  is  in  the  interest 
of  public  health.  Indeed,  pure  water  is  so  funda- 
mental a  necessity,  and  under  urban  conditions 
individual  care  is  so  inadequate  a  protection  against 
dangers  from  pollution,  that  cities  might  well  under- 
take the  absolute  guarantee  of  the  water,  giving 
citizens  injured  by  drinking  it  the  right  to  collect 
damages  from  the  municipality. 

The  health  departments  proper  of  the  great 
American  cities  spend  only  about  one-tenth  as 
much  money  as  is  spent  for  police  protection, 
although  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  on  the  average 
municipal  health  activities  save  many  more  lives 
than  police  activities.  Chicago  spends  only  about 
^200,000  on  its  health  service.  Expenses  for  sew- 
erage and  garbage  removal  are  not  included  in 
these  estimates.  In  spite  of  these  comparatively 
small  expenditures  on  public  health,  the  reported 
death-rates  of  our  cities   make  a  good   showing.^ 

1  The  death  statistics  are  not  altogether  reliable  in  some  Ameri- 
can cities.  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  for  example,  shows  a  rate  of  only 
9.1  per  I,cxx3  for  19CX),  and  6.5  for  1901. 

196 


MUNICIPAL   INSURANCE 

The  rate  per  looo  population  is  seldom  more  than 
20,  the  average  for  the  38  largest  cities  being  16.2. 
The  danger  to  life  from  disease  is  much  greater 
than  the  danger  from  violence,  and,  of  course,  the 
total  cost  of  curing  and  preventing  sickness  is 
much  greater  than  the  cost  of  pohce  protection. 
But  most  of  this  expense  takes  the  form  of  doctor 
bills,  hospital  bills,  and  life-insurance  premiums. 
It  seems  certain  that  a  much  greater  expenditure 
on  municipal  life  insurance  in  the  way  of  better 
sanitary  inspection,  purer  water  and  milk  supplies, 
better  housing,  more  public  baths  and  small  parks, 
etc.,  would  bring  about  a  large  total  saving  to  the 
community  through  lower  death-rates  and  less 
sickness.  But  we  are  not  yet  entirely  past  the 
idea  that  sickness  is  inevitable  and  in  accordance 
with  the  will  of  Providence.  Life  and  health  are 
often  held  in  less  effectual  esteem  than  property, 
and  the  community  is  sometimes  not  so  well  edu- 
cated to  the  necessity  of  public  protection  for  the 
former  as  for  the  latter. 

There  is  another  great  field  of  public  insurance 
which  attains  increased  importance  in  cities.  That 
is  insurance  against  suffering  and  death  by  reason 
of  poverty  or  incapacity.  The  processes  of  civili- 
zation are  costly.  The  wastes  of  progress  are 
enormous.  The  strain  of  our  organized  industrial 
and  social  life  uses  men  up  before  their  time. 
Vice  multipHes  its  victims.  The  city  is  compelled 
by  the  dictates  of  humanity  and  self-respect  to 
pick  up  and  remove  from  the  arena  the  victims  of 

197 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

the  strife  that  makes  the  city  great.  The  home- 
less children,  the  idiotic,  the  insane,  the  crippled, 
the  penniless  aged,  the  social  outcast,  the  misfit, 
all  must  be  cared  for,  that  life  may  not  absolutely 
perish  and  that  the  footprints  of  the  city's  onward 
progress  may  not  be  marked  with  blood.  Municipal 
charity  is  a  kind  of  life  insurance  that  reckons 
physical  existence  as  the  essential  thing  in  life,  and 
counts  its  duty  done  when  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren are  kept  alive.  The  quality  of  the  life  they 
live  seems  of  Httle  account,  only  so  they  Hve. 
This  criticism  of  pubHc  charity  is  not,  of  course, 
universally  applicable,  but  often  public  officials 
think  municipal  duty  is  fulfilled  by  the  mere  pres- 
ervation of  life.  New  York  and  Boston  spend 
about  as  much  on  hospitals,  asylums,  almshouses, 
and  other  charities  as  they  do  on  their  fire-depart- 
ments, and  Washington  and  several  large  Massa- 
chusetts cities  spend  more,  but  most  of  the  cities 
spend  far  less.  The  city  of  Chicago  spends 
almost  nothing  in  this  way,  charities  being  a  county 
function  in  Illinois.  Indeed,  charities  are  not  nat- 
urally a  distinctively  municipal  function  except  in 
so  far  as  the  wear  and  tear  of  civilization  is  accen- 
tuated in  city  life.  But  the  city  is  responsible  for 
the  care  of  its  human  wastes  no  less  than  for  the 
disposal  of  its  wastes  in  other  forms.  Its  main 
responsibility  must  be,  however,  in  preventive 
measures,  arising  out  of  the  spirit  of  cooperation, 
which  is  the  only  salvation  of  men  under  urban 
conditions. 

198 


MUNICIPAL   INSURANCE 

It  is  the  competitive  spirit  that  casts  men  into 
the  wine-press  of  civiHzation,  and,  after  draining 
off  their  life-blood  and  nerve-force,  drops  them 
like  useless  pulp  by  the  wayside  of  progress. 
Democracy  is  opposed  to  this  spirit.  It  cries  out 
that  men  are  not  fit  materials  for  the  wine-press. 
It  has  faith  in  universal  brotherhood.  Mere  life  is 
not  particularly  sacred  to  democracy,  but  the 
opportunities  for  mere  life  to  expand  into  full  and 
free  life  are  sacred  to  it.  Under  democracy,  mu- 
nicipal insurance  reaches  far  beyond  mere  exist- 
ence and  safety  into  the  higher  cooperations  for 
the  guarantee  of  physical,  industrial,  and  social 
conditions  fit  for  freedom. 


199 


CHAPTER   VII 

CIVIC    COOPERATION 

Industrial  society  and  political  society  are 
organized  on  radically  different  principles.  The 
one  lays  emphasis  on  the  differences  among  men 
and  employs  division  of  labor  to  attain  its  ends. 
The  other  lays  emphasis  on  the  universal  attributes 
of  human  nature  and  uses  equal  suffrage  as  its  in- 
strument. For  industrial  society,  in  considerable 
degree,  distance  has  been  annihilated  and  space 
overcome.  For  political  society,  under  civiliza- 
tion, place  and  territorial  limits  are  fundamental. 
The  idea  of  equahty  is  an  outgrowth  of  man's  pri- 
mary relations  with  nature.  Every  man  must  have 
a  place  and  on  some  spot  of  earth  a  home.  This 
fact  is  at  the  basis  of  free  government,  and  out 
of  the  recognition  of  its  full  significance  grows 
democracy.  Birth,  growth,  nutrition,  reproduction, 
death,  are  the  great  levellers  that  remind  us  of  the 
essential  equality  of  human  life.  It  is  with  the 
guarantee  of  equal  opportunities  to  play  our  parts 
well  in  these  primary  processes  that  government  is 
chiefly  concerned.  This  of  necessity  brings  govern- 
ment into  relation  with  place,  for  all  the  people  are 
divided  up  into  little  local  groups  called  "  families." 

200 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

They  are  somtwhere,  and  government  finds  them  in 
that  place. 

The  vast  expansion  of  the  facilities  for  trans- 
mitting intelligence  and  goods  has  seemed  of  late 
years  to  be  breaking  down  the  barriers  of  space  and 
diminishing  its  significance.  We  almost  forget  that 
man  needs  a  habitat.  It  is  the  boast  of  our  era  that 
we  can  traverse  an  ocean  or  a  continent  in  a  few 
days,  can  throw  our  voices  a  thousand  miles,  can 
send  messages  around  the  world  in  a  few  moments. 
We  think  that,  space  having  been  annihilated,  we 
need  no  room,  and  so  will  live  all  in  one  place. 
Cities  grow  apace  and  population  becomes  con- 
gested. But  the  earth  goes  rolling  on,  and  we  stay 
with  it.  We  still  nurse  at  its  bosom  and  sleep  upon 
its  lap,  and  from  the  platting  of  the  first  acre  the 
price  of  land  goes  up.  LocaHty  persistently  asserts 
itself,  and  the  faster  distance  is  abolished  the  more 
rapidly  the  price  of  standing  room  rises.  And  so, 
step  by  step,  ceaselessly  and  unflinchingly,  nature's 
dominance  over  man  asserts  itself. 

The  growth  of  cities  and  the  unwonted  develop- 
ment of  industrial  society  have  taken  us  a  long  way 
toward  the  social  organism.  But  in  the  nature  of 
the  case  reaction  must  come,  and  this  reaction  is 
taking  the  form  of  the  problems  of  city  govern- 
ment. Division  of  labor  in  production,  coupled 
with  intense  competition  in  enjoyment,  has  resulted 
in  conditions  that  make  civic  cooperation  necessary. 

The  growth  of  a  city  creates  new  place  interests 
and  enlarges  the  functions  of  government.     It  is 

201 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

no  longer  possible  for  every  man  to  chop  his  own 
road  through  the  wood,  but  all  the  citizens  must 
combine  not  only  to  make  streets,  but  to  grade  and 
pave  them  at  great  expense.  The  householder  can 
no  longer  tap  the  earth  in  his  front  yard  for  a 
supply  of  drinking  water,  but  must  unite  with  the 
other  householders  to  construct  aqueducts  and 
reservoirs  and  lay  an  elaborate  system,  of  pipes 
in  order  to  bring  water  to  his  door.  He  can  no 
longer  raise  and  slaughter  his  own  swine  and 
chickens,  or  depend  upon  his  neighbors  to  do  it,  but 
must  unite  with  them  to  establish  a  market  where 
all  may  buy  their  meat  from  strangers  under 
guarantees  of  sanitary  conditions.  The  city  dwel- 
ler can  have  no  field,  and  perhaps  no  dooryard,  in 
which  his  children  may  play,  but  must  unite  with 
his  fellow-citizens  to  estabHsh  public  parks  and 
playgrounds  for  the  use  of  all  in  common.  Urban 
citizens  may  even  be  unable  to  get  fresh  clean  air 
without  putting  their  heads  together  to  devise  and 
enforce  building  regulations  or  to  abate  the  smoke 
nuisance. 

After  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  the 
streets  themselves,  the  so-called  municipal  monop- 
olies offer  the  most  inviting  iield  for  civic  coopera- 
tion. The  term  "  municipal  monopoly  "  is  quite 
generally  understood,  though  many  citizens  still 
believe  it  a  misnomer.  As  ordinarily  considered,  a 
municipal  monopoly  is  a  business  that  requires  for 
its  very  existence  the  use  of  permanent  fixtures  in 
the  streets  and  alleys."  It  might  be  argued  that 
202 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

competition  in  the  milk  business  or  even  the  gro- 
cery or  dry-goods  business,  so  far  as  the  delivery 
of  goods  is  concerned,  is  unnatural  and  requires  the 
wasteful  duplication  of  routes,  all  the  dealers  hav- 
ing to  send  their  wagons  over  the  same  streets  to 
serve  scattered  customers.  There  is  force  in  this 
argument,  and  for  this  very  reason  we  find  that 
the  large  concerns  can  be  most  economically  man- 
aged and  business  is  actually  tending  toward  combi- 
nation or  division  of  territory  for  economy's  sake. 
Nevertheless  we  cannot  consider  the  milk-supply 
business  a  municipal  monopoly  in  the  same  sense 
as  the  water  business.  The  one  requires  a  small 
capital  investment  and  a  comparatively  large  cur- 
rent expenditure,  while  with  the  latter  the  case 
is  reversed.  The  installation  of  the  permanent  fix- 
tures in  the  streets  for  the  distribution  of  water, 
gas,  electricity,  or  steam,  or  for  street-railway 
transportation,  requires  such  a  great  outlay  of  capi- 
tal and  imposes  such  a  burden  on  the  street  that, 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  public  as  well  as  from 
that  of  the  purveyor  of  the  commodities,  it  is 
practically  necessary  in  the  long  run  for  the  same 
water  and  gas  mains  to  supply  every  house  in  the 
street  and  for  the  same  street-car  line  to  carry  all  the 
passengers  in  the  district  who  desire  to  travel  in  that 
way.  The  municipal  monopolies,  as  commonly 
understood,  then,  include  waterworks  and  sewers, 
street  railways,  and  telephone  systems,  gas  and 
electric  plants  for  light,  heat,  and  power,  and  such 
other   kinds  of  business   as   may  require   special 

203 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

permanent  fixtures  in  the  streets  as  a  condition  of 
their  existence. 

These  services  tend  to  be  universal,  uniform, 
and  necessary.  The  unit  of  service  is  the  private 
residence  which  is  a  local  institution.  True,  there 
are  many  limitations  upon  the  universal  character 
of  the  service.  In  some  cities  of  considerable  size 
private  wells  are  still  the  main  source  of  supply 
of  drinking  water,  but  as  a  rule  the  city  water  mains 
carry  water  from  a  common  reservoir  to  the  tene- 
ment and  the  mansion  alike.  In  the  same  street 
car  the  poor  and  the  rich  ride  side  by  side  if  their 
hours  of  labor  are  the  same.  Everybody  pays  the 
same  rate  as  a  rule.  Gas  is  not  so  democratic, 
and  electricity  and  telephones  are  still  less  so,  yet 
they  tend  toward  universal  use,  and  among  the 
users  the  service  is  practically  uniform,  the  saloon 
and  the  church,  the  boarding-house  and  the  man- 
sion, being  actually  hitched  together  by  wires  and 
pipes.  The  points  in  which  public  utilities  lend 
themselves  particularly  to  democratic  cooperation 
and  ultimate  control  by  the  whole  people  are 
these :  — 

First.  Competition  fails  to  give  adequate  con- 
trol, because  a  large  capital  investment  is  required, 
and  this  is  practically  wasted  when  applied  to  the 
construction  of  duplicate  plants. 

Second.  Competition  is  rendered  still  less  fea- 
sible as  a  mode  of  control  by  the  congestion  of 
population  and  the  consequent  necessity  of  putting 
land  and  franchise  rights  to  their  full  use,  double 
204 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

lines  being  often  intolerable  from  both  a  public 
and  a  private  standpoint. 

Third.  The  unit  of  consumption  is  a  local  unit, 
the  family  residence  or  the  place  of  business. 
This  is  true  to  a  certain  extent  even  with  the  street 
railways,  their  profit  depending  principally  on  the 
mimber  of  homes  within  easy  reach  of  each  partic- 
ular line. 

Fourth.  The  service  is  for  all,  determined  accord- 
ing to  their  location,  not  according  to  their  wealth, 
or  personal  tastes,  or  individual  character. 

It  is  clear  according  to  the  theory  of  democracy 
that  these  universal  interests  where  competition  is 
ineffective  should  be  under  popular  control.  That 
every  man  should  be  able  to  get  transportation, 
water,  and  light,  and  dispose  of  his  wastes  at  the 
minimum  cost,  is  one  of  the  conditions  of  free  life 
in  cities.  In  fact,  the  fixtures  in  the  shape  of 
tracks,  pipes,  wires,  and  conduits,  by  which  these 
services'  are  performed,  are  in  reality  only  a  part 
of  the  open  road  by  which  free  movement  for  per- 
sons and  commodities  is  secured.  The  political 
cooperation  compelled  by  city  conditions  under  the 
theory  of  democracy  logically  tends  toward  the 
absolute  public  ownership  of  the  street  and  every 
fixture  in  it,  over  it,  or  under  it.  And  we  may 
confidently  expect  that,  if  democratic  institutions 
do  not  suffer  abortion,  municipal  ownership  of  the 
distributing  systems,  at  least,  of  all  public  utilities 
will  in  the  long  run  become  practically  universal. 

Civic  cooperation  does  not  stop  here,  however. 
205 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

In  the  country  every  household  has  its  own 
milk  supply  or  can  get  it  from  neighbors.  Milk 
is  only  second  to  water  in  universal  importance, 
and  is  peculiarly  subject  to  contamination  and 
adulteration.  In  the  first  place  great  care  must 
be  exercised  in  the  production  of  milk  to  in- 
sure that  it  is  pure  and  nourishing.  Then  the 
handling  of  the  milk  requires  equal  or  greater  care 
to  insure  that  its  receptacles  are  kept  sweet  and 
clean.  Finally,  milk  must  be  delivered  quickly 
and  consumed  quickly.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
perishable  of  foods.  Upon  pure,  wholesome  milk, 
reasonably  cheap,  depends  in  large  measure  the 
reproductive  capacity  of  cities.  Milk  is  the  food 
of  infants.  The  appalling  mortahty  among  infants 
in  some  cities  is  a  clear  indication  of  the  public 
importance  of  a  pure,  wholesome,  and  abundant 
supply  of  milk.  In  a  city  like  Chicago,  with  its 
2,000,000  people,  the  citizens  are  critically  de- 
pendent upon  the  public  authorities  for  milk 
inspection.  The  milk-supply  business  tends  tow- 
ard monopoly  in  a  great  city  for  the  reason  that 
large  quantities  have  to  be  moved  long  distances 
and  distributed  as  quickly  as  possible.  The  small 
milkman  cannot  do  business  in  a  metropolis.  The 
economic  demands  for  milk  may  be  able  generally 
to  stimulate  the  production  of  a  sufficient  supply, 
but  only  municipal  cooperation  through  authority 
will  insure  that  this  supply  is  safe  and  nourishing. 
So  here  we  have  another  instance  of  the  special 
necessity  that  compels  governmental  cooperation 
206 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

in  cities.  We  often  hear  in  these  days  rumors  of 
a  milk  trust  for  some  city,  but  there  is  very  Httle 
talk  as  yet  of  municipal  dairies  in  the  United 
States.  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  however, 
maintains  as  a  part  of  its  animal  exhibit  a  herd 
of  thoroughbred  cattle.  The  cows  furnish  milk 
for  other  animals  in  the  zoological  garden,  and  a 
considerable  amount  in  addition,  which  is  sold  by 
the  city  and  brings  in  several  hundred  dollars  a 
year. 

What  is  true  of  the  milk  supply  is  also  true, 
though  to  a  less  extent,  of  other  food  suppUes, 
especially  meat.  The  necessity  of  civic  coopera- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  securing  food  at  reasonable 
rates  has  given  rise  to  municipal  markets  which 
are  almost  everywhere  a  recognized  municipal 
function.  The  market  is  a  public  place  where 
buyers  and  sellers  of  food  supplies  congregate  at 
regular  intervals  to  meet  the  constant  and  univer- 
sal demands  of  the  people  of  a  city  for  food.  The 
market  is  the  centre  of  the  distributing  system, 
and  here  the  municipal  authorities  exercise  more 
or  less  control  by  means  of  the  inspection  of  weights 
and  measures  and  of  the  quality  of  the  food  itself. 
The  magnitude  of  the  meat  business  and  the 
peculiar  dangers  to  the  public  health  from  meat 
contamination  make  meat  inspection  particularly 
important.  The  disgraceful  condition  of  private 
slaughter-houses  in  and  about  Michigan  cities  led 
to  the  passage,  in  1903,  of  a  stringent  act  giving 
cities    control    over   slaughter-houses,   outside    of 

207 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

their  limits  even,  and  empowering  each  city  to 
establish  a  public  abattoir  and  require  that  all 
slaughtering  for  the  city  markets  be  done  there.^ 
This  form  of  municipal  cooperation,  though  common 
in  foreign  cities,  is  as  yet  hardly  known  in  the 
United  States.  It  is,  nevertheless,  a  cooperative 
function  toward  which  the  very  conditions  of  city 
life  are  driving  us. 

Free  public  education  is  the  most  firmly  estab- 
lished socialistic  enterprise  of  the  American  com- 
monwealth. We  have  already  discussed  at  some 
length '  the  peculiar  features  of  the  educational 
problem  in  cities.  There  are  only  one  or  two 
things  further  to  be  said  here  in  regard  to  public 
education  as  a  phase  of  civic  cooperation.  One 
is  in  regard  to  the  movement  for  free  text-books. 
Educators  argue  in  favor  of  free  text-books  the 
desirability  of  making  education  completely  free 
and  the  schools  fully  efficient.  They  say  that  a 
text-book  is  as  necessary  to  the  child's  education  as 
a  desk,  a  pencil,  or  a  blackboard.  Why,  then, 
should  the  city  stop  short  in  its  supply  of  the 
necessary  tools  of  education .?  And,  from  the 
standpoint  of  efficiency,  why  should  the  school  be 
compelled  to  lose  several  days  or  weeks  every  year 
waiting  for  individual  pupils  to  supply  themselves 
with  text-books  ?  There  are  several  arguments 
advanced  against  free  text-books,  the  most  forcible 
being  brought  forward  by  the  taxpayers  who 
object  to  paying  in  proportion  to  their  property  for 

1  Michigan  Public  Acts,  1903,  p.  140. 

208 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

the  education  of  other  people's  children,  and  by 
parents  who  send  their  own  children  to  private 
and  parochial  schools.  These  arguments  would 
apply  with  equal  force  against  the  whole  system  of 
free  public  education.  This  is,  however,  primarily  a 
question  of  state  socialism  rather  than  of  civic  coop- 
eration, except  that  in  cities  the  problem  becomes 
more  acute  by  reason  of  the  greater  prevalence 
of  private  schools  and  the  greater  inequalities  of 
wealth  among  the  citizens. 

There  is  one  phase  of  the  educational  problem 
that  is  especially  related  to  civic  cooperation.  I 
refer  to  technical  schools.  By  a  recent  Massachu- 
setts law  the  state  offers  to  cooperate  with  certain 
cities  in  the  estabHshment  and  maintenance  of 
such  institutions.^  Already  textile  schools  have 
been  established  in  New  Bedford,  Fall  River,  and 
Lowell.  Here  again  we  have  a  municipal  function 
that  is  commonly  undertaken  in  foreign  cities,  but 
has  been  unknown  in  the  United  States  until 
recently.  Public  technical  schools  hardly  come 
within  the  necessary  scope  of  municipal  functions 
except  in  cities  where  one  industry  is  so  predomi- 
nant as  to  be  vital  to  the  prosperity  of  the  town, 
and  therefore  of  universal  interest  to  the  citizens. 
Many  of  the  New  England  cities  have  such  a  con- 
dition. Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  is  one  of  the 
best  illustrations  in  the  Middle  states  of  a  city 
w4th  one  dominating  industry.  The  furniture  busi- 
ness is  so  much  the  life  of  Grand  Rapids  that  many 

1  Laws  of  Massachusetts y  1895,  Chapter  475. 
p  209 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

of  its  conservative  citizens  suggest  the  desirability 
of  a  municipal  school  of  design,  without  even  think- 
ing of  socialism. 

The  protective  functions  of  government  are  not 
ordinarily  considered  socialistic.  Even  Herbert 
Spencer  found  room  for  police  protection  in  his 
emasculated  state.  Nevertheless,  in  great  cities 
the  municipal  activities  for  the  guarantee  of  life, 
health,  and  property  become  so  complex  and  far- 
reaching  as  to  constitute  notable  examples  of  civic 
cooperation.  This  is  undeniably  true  of  such 
functions  as  free  fire  protection  and  the  free  col- 
lection and  disposal  of  garbage.  And  in  so  far  as 
the  police  force  is  used  for  taking  the  school 
census,  giving  information  to  strangers,  and  as- 
sisting the  work  of  other  municipal  departments, 
it  also  becomes  a  witness  to  the  fact  that  political 
cooperation  on  a  larger  and  larger  scale  is  an  urban 
necessity. 

Yet  the  most  starthng  and  convincing  illustra- 
tions of  the  local  unity  that  finds  its  expression  in 
civic  cooperation  come  in  cases  of  public  emer- 
gency. The  expenditure  of  extraordinary  sums 
on  public  improvements  in  times  of  industrial 
depression  in  order  to  give  employment  to  labor, 
and  the  turning  of  vacant  lots  into  free  vegetable 
gardens  for  the  unemployed  are  instances.  Yet 
these  are  of  slight  signification  compared  with  the 
entrance  of  cities  into  the  coal  and  wood  business 
in  the  midst  of  a  season  of  prosperity,  as  many 
did  during  the  winter  of  1902-1903.     Many  of  the 

210 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

more  wealthy  and  conservative  citizens  looked 
with  disfavor  upon  this  new  form  of  municipal 
enterprise,  even  under  the  trying  conditions  that 
existed,  but  there  is  no  question  about  the  general 
popularity  of  the  movement.  The  citizen  with  no 
coal  in  his  bin  and  unable  to  get  any  at  any  price 
from  his  dealer  did  not  stick  on  theory  before  buy- 
ing a  ton  of  anthracite  from  the  municipality. 
The  lower  house  of  the  Massachusetts  legislature 
asked  the  supreme  court  of  that  state  for  a  ruling 
in  reference  to  the  constitutionality  of  proposed 
legislation,  giving  cities  and  towns  the  right  to 
establish  municipal  fuel  yards  in  certain  contin- 
gencies. The  ruling  was  handed  down  in  January, 
1903,^  and  held  that  a  city  could  furnish  fuel  to 
those  unable  to  buy,  by  reason  of  its  right  to 
relieve  paupers ;  that  legislation  could  be  passed 
authorizing  a  city  to  act  as  agent  for  its  citizens 
in  getting  fuel  where  conditions  were  such  that 
private  individuals  could  not  get  any ;  but  that  so 
long  as  private  dealers  furnished  fuel,  no  matter 
what  the  price,  the  city  could  not  be  authorized  to 
establish  yards  for  buying  and  selling  coal  or  wood, 
thus  entering  into  competition  with  its  own  citizens 
in  an  ordinary  private  business.  If  this  decision  is 
generally  followed,  it  may  check  in  some  measure 
the  tendency  toward  civic  cooperation  in  such 
emergencies  as  a  coal  famine.  Yet  necessity,  if  it 
becomes  real,  will  obey  a  higher  law  and  compel 
the  amendment  of  the  restrictions  of  constitution 

1  In  r^  Municipal  Fuel  Plants,  66  N.E.  Rep.  25. 
211 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

and  statute-book  that  were  enacted  without  refer- 
ence to  the  radically  new  conditions  which  confront 
cities. 

The  chief  danger  to  liberty  is  license.  The  chief 
danger  to  democracy  is  mob  rule.  The  chief  danger 
to  cooperation  is  extravagance.  This  is  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  cooperation  is  always  advocated  as  an 
economy  measure.  Human  wants  show  a  peculiar 
facility  for  expansion.  As  a  result  of  this  fact  we 
tend  to  anticipate  the  expected  economies  of  co- 
operation and  raise  our  standards  of  living.  We 
mortgage  ourselves  to  the  future  and  spend  the 
money.  This  tends  to  be  true  in  every  depart- 
ment of  life  where  any  form  of  cooperation  other 
than  the  organic  form  is  tried.  We  should  suppose 
that  two  persons  could  live  more  cheaply  together 
than  apart,  yet,  according  to  a  common  tendency 
of  human  nature,  two  will  demand  a  greater  variety 
of  food,  more  utensils,  and  better  service  if  they 
feast  together  than  if  they  feast  separately.  With 
the  entrance  of  every  new  partner  into  the  coopera- 
tion in  consumption  or  enjoyment,  the  equipment 
must  be  improved  and  the  goose  be  hung  a  little 
higher.  It  is  a  peculiar  thing  that  the  larger  the 
city  the  more  expensively  its  citizens  must  dress. 
It  seems  peculiar  also  that  cooperative  housekeep- 
ing should  generally  be  so  expensive  as  to  be  within 
reach  of  the  wealthy  alone.  It  is  the  same  way  in 
the  formation  of  trusts.  The  expected  economies 
are  likely  to  be  anticipated  in  watered  stocks  and 
exorbitant  salaries. 

212 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

This  tendency  illustrates  the  gravest  danger  in 
civic  cooperation.  The  people  like  good  things. 
If  they  find  they  can  have  them  cheaper  through 
public  than  through  private  agencies,  they  imme- 
diately want  more  of  them,  and  unless  taxation  is 
so  arranged  that  those  who  vote  for  expenditures 
also  feel  the  burden  of  paying  for  them,  there  is 
a  danger  of  extravagance  which  will  react  upon 
the  whole  community  and  cripple  it  A  low  tax- 
rate  does  not  cease  to  be  a  good  thing  after  the 
people  have  embarked  upon  a  policy  of  civic  coop- 
eration. There  are  some  things  we  cannot  afford, 
even  though  they  are  cheap.  This  tendency  to 
extravagance  in  anticipation  of  the  savings  of  co- 
operation is  not  universally  operative,  and  can  be 
held  in  check  by  a  healthy  conservatism  born  of 
common  sense  and  civic  honesty.  Yet  it  is  a 
menace  to  municipal  democracy,  and  care  should 
always  be  taken  in  assuming  any  new  municipal 
function  to  keep  the  cost  of  it  unmistakably  before 
the  people,  and  the  burden  of  its  support  so  placed 
that  there  will  be  no  popular  delusion  about  getting 
something  for  nothing.  Under  complete  demo- 
cratic socialism  this  tendency  would  correct  itself, 
for  its  effect  could  not  be  concealed.  The  whole 
people  would  immediately  feel  the  pinch  from  pub- 
lic extravagance. 

Back  of  the  danger  of  popular  extravagance  lies 
a  condition  of  citizenship  that  constitutes  the  chief 
menace  to  democracy  in  American  cities.  This  is 
the  lack  of  public  spirit.     The  men  who  conduct 

213 


THE   AMERICAN   CIT\^ 

public  affairs  are  animated  by  too  nearly  the  same 
motives  as  those  who  conduct  private  business. 
The  civic  consciousness  is  hardly  awakened.  Yet 
for  the  success  of  cooperation  it  is  necessary  that 
public  officials  should  be  truly  representative, — that 
is,  animated  by  pubhc  motives.  The  popular  de- 
mand that  public  men  should  act  from  a  different 
motive  in  conducting  the  public  business  than  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  people  themselves  do  in  their 
own  business,  though  seemingly  inconsistent,  is 
nevertheless  founded  on  a  true  distinction.  The 
very  nature  of  public  works  demands  the  elimina- 
tion of  personal  selfishness  from  the  public  officials. 
Nevertheless,  this  demand  is  met  only  in  a  scant 
measure.  There  is  prevalent  among  office-holders 
and  office-seekers  a  spirit  of  commercialism  that 
would  do  honor  to  the  most  ruthless  business  man. 

This  spirit  has  been  greatly  stimulated  by  the 
fee  system  in  county  offices.  One  of  the  big  fee 
offices  in  a  county  containing  a  large  city  comes 
to  be  a  gold  mine,  and  an  election  to  such  an 
office  amounts  to  an  exclusive  lease  to  work  the 
mine  for  a  term  of  years.  Under  these  conditions 
some  of  the  worst  forms  of  public  plunder  thrive, 
and  public  spirit  is  practically  excluded.  Holding 
office  is  a  business  proposition  pure  and  simple, 
with  an  odious  monopolistic  feature  added. 

Public  officials  come  to  regard  themselves  not  as 
the  guardians  of  the  public  funds,  but  as  licensed 
looters  whose  main  business  is  to  unlock  the  pub- 
lic coffers  and  draw  out  for  themselves  and  their 
214 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

friends  the  maximum  amounts  of  money  they  can 
get.  The  trouble  is  that  competitive  human  nature 
has  failed  to  rise  into  a  new  category  to  meet  in 
good  faith  the  demands  of  cooperation.  Literally, 
the  trouble  v/ith  commerciaUsm  in  politics  is  that 
it  is  out  of  date ;  it  does  not  belong  to  the  coopera- 
tive scheme ;  it  is  primitive  and  uncivilized. 

There  are,  of  course,  many  other  influences  be- 
sides the  fee  system  that  foster  this  evil  spirit. 
The  American  citizen  must  turn  over  a  new  leaf. 
He  must  adjust  himself  mentally  and  morally  to 
the  new  conditions  of  life.  Material  development 
has  been  too  swift  for  him.  Upon  his  farm  and 
forest  lands  has  sprung  up  a  glittering  Babylon. 
He  is  still  a  boor,  and  thinks  that  splendid  civiliza- 
tion is  his  to  pillage.  At  least  so  one  would  think 
who  reads  the  shameful  chapters  in  the  history  of 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Pittsburg,  New  Orleans, 
St.  Louis,  Minneapolis,  and  some  other  American 
cities.  Yet  everywhere  the  spirit  of  the  new  time 
is  moving.  Civic  pride  and  the  municipal  con- 
science are  beginning  to  appear,  and  there  is  rea- 
son to  believe  that  time  and  necessity  will  in  most 
cases  develop  a  better  citizenship,  and  provide  mu- 
nicipal leaders  worthy  of  the  great  trusts  that  fall 
into  their  hands. 

Even  now  the  general  inefficiency  of  municipal 
work  is  probably  much  exaggerated.     When  a  re-  ; 
former  raises  the  cry  that  the  city's  affairs  should    .. 
be  conducted  on  business  principles  and  points  out  11 
the  disheartening  inferiority  of  public  as  compared 

215 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

with  private  methods,  he  generally  has  in  mind 
the  best  private  business  methods  and  the  worst 
public  methods.  The  really  successful  and  thor- 
oughly honest  business  man  is  the  exception  and 
not  the  rule.  Gigantic  blunders  are  often  made  in 
private  enterprises,  and  fraud,  looseness,  and  in- 
efficiency are  not  uncommon.  It  is  not  certain 
that  if  all  municipal  business  were  compared  with 
all  private  business,  the  advantage  would  be  with 
the  latter.  Publicity  of  accounts  and  responsibility 
to  the  people,  imperfect  as  they  are,  are  powerful 
factors  in  keeping  public  business  in  a  state  of 
efficiency.  Nevertheless,  we  know  all  too  well 
that  citizens  often  take  a  peculiarly  base  attitude 
in  their  relations  to  the  public  treasury.  They  say 
"the  city  is  rich,"  and  charge  an  extra  price  for 
the  goods  they  are  selling.  Even  in  the  country 
districts  we  often  see  the  tendency  of  the  tax- 
payers to  give  a  short  measure  of  service  in  doing 
road  work.  And  in  cities  contractors  form  a 
special  class  of  citizens  who  generally  strive  to 
help  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  public.  In 
so  far  as  the  charge  of  extravagance  in  public 
work  is  true,  it  is  due  either  to  ignorance  or  to 
that  lack  of  civic  consciousness  which  stands  in 
the  way  of  a  more  extensive  civic  cooperation. 
The  citizen  who,  in  his  greed  to  enrich  himself  re- 
gardless of  method,  robs  the  city,  does  not  see  that 
he  is  stealing  from  himself.  He  does  not  feel  the 
unity  that  in  fact  exists  among  all  the  citizens  of  a 
city  so  far  as  their  public  interests  are  concerned. 

216 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

He  is  only  half  a  man.  He  does  not  know  that 
he  has  any  public  interests. 

The  question  as  to  whether  a  city  should  perform 
its  functions  in  all  cases  by  its  own  officers  and 
employees  or  by  means  of  contracts  with  private 
individuals  is  a  critical  one  in  municipal  circles. 
According  to  the  strict  theory  of  civic  cooperation, 
contracts  for  the  construction  of  public  improve- 
ments might  be  considered  as  much  out  of  place  as 
contracts  for  the  collection  of  taxes  or  the  instruc- 
tion of  children.  And  yet  in  practice  a  broad  dis- 
tinction is  made  between  services  which  are  of  a 
continuous  nature,  and  work  which  can  be  done 
once  for  all.  Thus  the  schools,  the  police  patrol,  fire 
protection,  and  even  the  street  cleaning,  are  gener- 
ally carried  on  directly  by  the  public  employees. 
On  the  other  hand,  as  a  rule,  buildings  and  bridges 
are  erected,  pavements  laid,  and  sewers  built  by 
contractors.  This  is  on  the  same  principle  by 
which  a  private  individual  lets  a  contract  for  the 
building  of  his  house,  barn,  or  factory,  but  carries 
on  his  business  himself. 

In  municipal  affairs  there  are  a  number  of  ser- 
vices where  the  practice  is  not  uniform.  Most  of 
the  cities  clean  their  own  streets  ;  yet  Philadelphia, 
San  Francisco,  Indianapolis,  and  a  few  others  have 
their  streets  cleaned  partly  or  wholly  by  contract. 
Garbage  and  ashes  are  collected  and  disposed  of 
by  the  city  directly  and  by  contractors  in  about  an 
equal  number  of  cases,  while  the  householders 
still  more  frequently  themselves  dispose  of  these 
217 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

wastes.  Street  sprinkling  is  also  often  done  by 
private  parties  who  make  contracts  with  the  prop- 
erty owners.  In  Grand  Rapids  the  garbage  con- 
tract gives  a  monopoly  of  the  business  of  collecting 
unsanitary  refuse  to  the  contracting  company  un- 
der the  terms  of  an  ordinance  fixing  the  maximum 
weekly  charge  which  may  be  made  for  the  service. 
This  contract  has  recently  been  relet  by  the  board 
of  health,  which  regarded  it  as  a  franchise  and 
advertised  for  bids.  The  contract  was  awarded  to 
the  highest  bidder  for  a  term  of  three  and  one-half 
years.  The  price  paid  is  $1200  per  year.  There 
is  a  strong  public  feeling  that  such  services  ought 
to  be  performed  by  the  city  itself  free  of  cost,  and 
that  it  is  particularly  offensive  to  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  municipal  freedom  to  grant 
a  monopoly  to  a  private  company,  with  prices  high 
enough  to  permit  of  its  paying  a  bonus  into  the 
city  treasury.  In  Grand  Rapids,  however,  the  city 
burns  the  garbage  free  of  charge,  and  the  bonus 
paid  by  the  company  for  its  contract  may  be 
rightly  considered  as  a  contribution  to  the  ex- 
penses of  the  garbage  burner. 

When  we  come  to  the  question  of  making  ordi- 
nary street  improvements  by  direct  employment  of 
labor  or  by  contract,  it  seems  reasonable  to  say  that 
every  city  ought  to  have  in  its  employ  a  man  fully 
able  to  direct  this  sort  of  work.  Streets  are  being 
graded,  paved,  and  repaired  continually,  sewers  are 
being  built  and  sidewalks  constructed.  There  is 
no  good  reason  why  the  city  should  be  put  to  the 
218 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

extra  cost  of  advertising  for  bids,  supervision  of 
construction,  and  contractors*  profits  in  such  cases. 
But  when  it  comes  to  the  building  of  a  viaduct, 
the  construction  of  a  city  hall,  or  the  digging  of  a 
great  water  tunnel,  there  is  reason  for  resorting  to 
contractors  whose  regular  business  it  is  to  under- 
take such  work.  It  naturally  follows  that  the 
larger  the  city  and  the  more  public  improvements 
there  are  to  be  made  every  year,  the  greater  is  the 
proportion  of  the  work  that  can  be  done  to  advan- 
tage by  the  city  itself. 

The  contract  system  is  one  that  is  most  annoy- 
ing and  that  lends  itself  to  extreme  abuses.  All 
the  circumstances  go  to  make  its  operation  unsatis- 
factory. If  the  contractors  have  too  much  work 
on  hand,  their  bids  are  extravagantly  high.  If 
they  are  eager  for  the  work,  they  bid  away  down  in 
the  hope  of  securing  the  job  and  then  saving  them- 
selves by  an  inferior  grade  of  workmanship  or 
materials,  or  by  inducing  the  authorities  to  pay 
large  sums  for  extras.  If  the  conditions  seem 
favorable,  the  contractors  enter  into  collusion  and 
prevent  competition,  or  a  favored  contractor  bribes 
the  officials  to  accept  his  bid  when  it  is  too  high. 
Too,  when  the  city  does  its  work  by  contract,  it  is 
difficult  to  protect  properly  the  interests  of  citizens 
while  the  work  is  being  done.  Streets  are  need- 
lessly blockaded,  work  is  long  delayed,  and  private 
frontages  are  more  or  less  disfigured.  The  objec- 
tions that  lie  to  the  direct  employment  of  labor  for 
all  street  work  come  from  those  who  claim  that  all 

2IQ 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

municipal  work  is  more  expensive  than  private 
work,  and  that  an  army  of  city  employees  lends 
itself  to  the  building  up  of  political  machines. 
But  where  a  city  is  corrupt,  the  contract  system 
also  lends  itself  to  the  perpetration  of  frauds  and 
the  cultivation  of  extravagance. 

In  an  address  before  the  League  of  American 
Municipalities  at  its  Baltimore  convention  in  1903, 
Mr.  James  M.  Head,  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  gave 
his  experience  as  mayor  of  that  city  in  regard  to 
The  Advantages  of  Municipal  Construction  over  the 
Contract  System}  After  referring  to  the  almost 
universal  provision  of  law  or  custom  that  contracts 
shall  be  let  to  "  the  lowest  responsible  bidder,"  a 
responsible  bidder  being  "any  one  who  can  give 
bond  for  the  faithful  performance  of  his  contract," 
Mr.  Head  divides  bidders  for  public  work  into 
three  classes  :  first,  and  least  numerous,  are  the 
honest  contractors,  who  bid  on  public  work  the 
same  as  they  bid  on  private  work,  looking  for  a 
fair  profit  and  the  strict  fulfilment  of  their  obliga- 
tions ;  second,  there  are  the  "  adventurers,"  who 
bid  haphazard,  but  low  enough  to  secure  the  jobs, 
trusting  to  luck  or  to  inefficient  inspection  to  bring 
them  safely  through ;  and,  third,  there  are  the 
boodlers,  who  get  their  contracts  through  political 
favoritism  or  inside  information  which  enables 
them  to  underbid  the  honest  contractors.  The 
public    officials  are   under  practical   constraint  to 

^The  address  is  published  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  League  for 
November,  1903,  pp.  21-39. 

220 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

accept  the  lowest  bid,  and  then  the  task  of  hold- 
ing the  dishonest  or  adventurous  contractor  to  his 
bargain  is  an  extremely  difficult  one.  **To  such 
an  extent  has  this  gone,"  says  Mr.  Head,  "  and  so 
well  understood  is  it  that  the  honest  contractor  has 
little  or  no  chance  when  it  comes  to  bidding  upon 
public  work,  that  a  man  or  firm  which  is  known  to 
be  engaged  in  the  business  of  securing  public  con- 
tracts soon  comes  to  be  looked  upon  as  little  short 
of  a  criminal,  and  his  methods  of  doing  business 
regarded  with  suspicion  by  all  classes  of  business 
men.  The  contract  system  has  done  more  to  cor- 
rupt public  officials  and  lower  the  standard  of 
official  integrity  than  any  other  one  cause,  save  the 
granting  of  franchises  to  quasi-public  corporations." 

Mr.  Head  then  gives  the  experience  of  Nashville 
in  furnishing  water,  in  public  lighting,  in  street 
construction,  and  in  the  cleaning,  sprinkling,  and 
repair  of  streets,  by  direct  employment  of  labor. 
In  these  departments  a  great  saving  is  shown  over 
the  contract  system  in  former  years  or  in  other 
cities.  Statistics  of  real  value  are  not  easily  ob- 
tainable to  show  the  general  comparative  efficiency 
of  the  two  systems.  Perhaps  Nashville's  good 
results  may  be  due  to  a  provision  in  its  charter  for- 
bidding the  officials  to  employ  or  make  contracts 
with  any  person  related  to  them  "  within  the  sixth 
degree  of  consanguinity  or  affinity  under  the  civil 
law."  1 

There  is  one  case  of  municipal  experience  with 

1  Charter,  Sec.  32. 
221 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

the  direct  employment  of  labor  in  this  country  that 
has  done  much  to  discredit  the  plan.  That  is  the 
case  of  the  Boston  municipal  printing  plant  which 
was  established  March  i,  1897.  In  February,  1902, 
Mr.  Harvey  S.  Chase,  a  public  accountant  and 
auditor,  made  a  special  report  to  Mayor  Collins  of 
Boston,  oh  the  workings  of  this  enterprise  up  to 
January  30,  1902, — that  is,  for  a  period  of  nearly 
five  years.  Mr.  Chase  found  that  on  a  total 
expenditure  of  1^755,298.31,  the  plant  had  lost 
^40,128.83,  including  interest  charges.  The  causes 
assigned  for  this  loss  are:  the  employment  of  too 
many  men,  the  purchase  of  excessive  stock,  the 
payment  of  extravagant  prices  in  some  cases,  and 
short  hours.  Mr.  Chase  says  that  the  quality  of 
the  work  was  uniformly  good.  His  conclusions  in 
regard  to  the  enterprise  from  a  business  stand- 
point are  especially  interesting.  "  It  is  evident," 
says  he,  "that  the  prospects  of  success  for  the 
municipal  printing  plant,  viewed  as  a  business 
operation,  are  discouraging.  Here  is  an  experi- 
ment in  municipal  control  —  a  municipal  industry 
—  endowed  with  every  advantage  apparently :  — 
ample  capital,  generous  appropriations,  plant  in 
excellent  physical  condition,  regular  work  of  the 
same  general  character  throughout  the  year,  every- 
thing favorable  for  a  successful  enterprise  which 
should  do  the  city's  printing  better  than  by  con- 
tract, and  which  should  be  able  to  pay  as  good  or 
better  wages  while  giving  shorter  hours  to  the  em- 
ployee. With  all  this  the  plant  should  be  able  to 
222 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

save  money  for  the  city  through  charges  to  the 
other  departments  which  should  be  less  than  out- 
side concerns  could  afford.  This  was  the  theory 
upon  which  the  plant  was  established,  and  there 
was  nothing  unreasonable  about  the  theory.  The 
plant  should  have  made  just  such  a  success  in 
these  past  years,  and  it  is  a  humiliating  fact,  if  not 
a  disgraceful  one,  that  the  financial  result  of  these 
years  has  been  so  far  below  what  could  have  been 
reasonably  expected." 

This  Boston  experience  is  unfortunate,  just  as 
Philadelphia's  experience  with  municipal  gas  is. 
These  cases  bring  out  in  strong  light  the  funda- 
mental weakness  of  American  civic  life,  —  namely, 
the  absence  of  the  right  public  spirit.  This  is  a 
condition,  however,  which  cannot  be  accepted  as 
final  unless  we  propose  the  abandonment  of  popu- 
lar government.  The  thing  to  be  done  is  not  to 
abandon  municipal  enterprises  which  have  fallen 
into  extravagant  hands,  but  to  step  in  and  put  them 
on  their  feet.  In  other  words,  necessity  points 
toward  an  extended  field  of  civic  cooperation.  The 
difficulties  in  the  way  must  not  be  accepted  as  per- 
manent, but  must  be  overcome  by  the  development 
of  civic  conscience  and  administrative  reform.^ 

A  special  problem  that  necessarily  arises  when 
a  city  becomes  a  great  employer  of  labor,  is  the 
attitude  to  be  taken   by  the   government   toward 

^  See  Municipal  Affairs^  Vol.  IV,  No.  2,  June,  1900,  for  a  valuable 
article  by  Professor  John  R.  Commons  on  "  Municipal  Employment 
and  Progress." 

223 


THE   AiMERICAN   CITY 

trade  unionism  among  its  own  employees.  Every 
public  department  has  to  be  organized  more  or  less 
on  the  military  plan.  Only  the  head  officials  may 
determine  policies.  Clerks  and  laborers  must  do 
their  work  under  the  control  of  their  superiors. 
This  practical  necessity  puts  the  city  at  once  into 
the  class  of  the  employers  of  labor.  In  the  work 
of  a  great  department,  like  the  New  York  street- 
cleaning  department,  there  naturally  arises  more 
or  less  friction,  and  the  workmen  have  grievances. 
When  the  late  Colonel  Waring  was  commissioner 
of  street  cleaning  in  New  York,  he  organized  in  his 
department  a  system  of  conferences  between  rep- 
resentatives of  the  workmen  and  representatives  of 
himself  which  proved  to  be  exceedingly  valuable 
in  allaying  ill-will  and  engendering  good  feeling 
among  the  men.  Briefly  his  plan  was  to  encourage 
the  men  to  organize  and  join  with  the  officials  in 
hearing  and  passing  upon  grievances.^ 

The  policy  followed  by  Colonel  Waring  differ- 
entiates itself  in  a  marked  degree  from  the  usual 
lines  of  policy  pursued  by  city  officials.  Too  often 
laborers  are  recognized  as  the  menial  adjuncts  of 
political  or  personal  machines,  and  hold  their  jobs 
not  by  reason  of  faithful  performance  of  municipal 
work,  but  by  reason  of  their  delivery  of  votes  to  the 
party  in  power.  This  attitude  of  responsible  public 
officials  toward  the  city's  laborers  is  utterly  degrad- 
ing both  to  the  city  and  to  the  workmen.  It  is  this 
spirit  that  stands  most  in  the  way  of  the  improve- 

^  See  Colonel  Waring's  Street  Cleaning  andits  Effects,  pp.  24-31. 
224 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

ment  and  expansion  of  the  public  service.  Along 
another  line,  there  is  a  frequent  exhibition  of  a 
tendency  on  the  part  of  the  public  authorities  to 
"  recognize  "  the  trades  unions  and  submit  to  their 
domination.  In  one  of  our  cities,  for  example,  the 
council  grants  concessions  for  the  sale  of  refresh- 
ments in  the  principal  public  park.  The  contract 
with  the  concessionnaire  includes  two  provisos : 
first,  that  all  buildings  and  booths  erected  in  the 
park  by  the  concessionnaire  shall  be  erected  and 
maintained  under  the  supervision  of  the  park  com- 
mittee ;  second,  that  the  concessionnaire  shall  not 
sell  any  cigars  that  do  not  bear  the  "  union  label." 
The  union  men  are  ever  ready  to  urge  that  all 
public  printing  carry  the  **  label "  and  that  unionism 
be  recognized  in  all  other  possible  ways  by  the 
city.  Municipal  recognition  gives  prestige.  But 
the  general  solution  of  the  problem  of  capital  and 
labor  lies  outside  the  scope  of  municipal  functions, 
and  it  is  a  clear  perversion  of  democracy  that 
officials  elected  by  the  whole  people  should  make 
the  city  an  instrument  in  furthering  the  special 
ends  of  one  class.  'Neither  among  its  own  em- 
ployees nor  among  the  employees  of  its  contractors 
should  the  city  permit  that  species  of  trade  unionism 
which  represents  warfare  in  the  community.  The 
government  representing  all  the  people  abhors 
every  monopoly  not  created  by  itself  and  brought 
under  control  for  the  public  good.  To  recognize, 
encourage,  or  protect  a  plumbers'  combine  or  a 
teamsters'  union,  striving  to  establish  monopoly,  is 
Q  225 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

as  much  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  cooperation  as  it 
is  to  submit  to  a  contractors'  ring  or  a  combination 
among  coal  dealers.^ 

Throughout  the  preceding  pages  we  have  seen 
that  with  the  growth  of  cities  the  conditions  of 
life  more  and  more  conspire  to  make  cooperation 
necessary  through  the  expansion  of  city  functions. 
What  are  the  limits,  if  any,  of  municipal  socialism  ? 
The  full-fledged  socialist  will  not  be  contented 
until  the  state  owns  and  controls  all  the  means 
of  production.  Whether  or  not  state  socialism  be 
practicable  or  desirable  has  nothing  to  do  directly 
with  the  expansion  of  municipal  functions.  Under 
any  system  of  government  —  individualistic,  pater- 
nalistic, or  socialistic  —  the  existence  of  cities 
creates  certain  special  local  necessities  which  under 
a  democratic  system  can  be  met  only  by  coopera- 
tion. The  supply  of  universal  utilities  by  means 
of  fixtures  in  the  streets  is  perhaps  the  most  im- 
portant of  these  local  necessities.  The  distribution 
and  possibly  the  production  of  the  milk  supply 
may  in  time  become  a  necessary  public  function. 
This  effect  will  be  produced,  if  at  all,  by  the  fact 
that  milk  in  its  natural  form  is  a  common  necessity 
of  life,  and  is  so  perishable  that  it  cannot  be  pro- 
duced far  from  the  place  of  consumption  or  delayed 
long  in  distribution.  The  establishment  of  parks, 
playgrounds,  and   other   means  of   public  amuse- 

^  For  the  attitude  of  the  courts  on  this   general   question,  see 
Marshall  and  Bruce  Company  vs.   City  of  Nashville^  a   Tennessee 
case,  71  S.  W.  R.  815,  decided  January  24,  1903. 
226 


CIVIC   COOPERATION 

ment  and  instruction  is  a  local  city  function  for 
the  reason  that  these  things  are  made  necessary  by 
urban  conditions.  In  general  it  is  to  be  expected 
that  civic  cooperation  will  be  called  upon  to  solve 
all  those  special  problems  of  universal  interest  to 
urban  dwellers  which  arise  out  of  the  peculiar 
conditions  of  city  life.  City  government  is  the 
most  emphatic  protest  of  local  interests  against  the 
organization  of  society  without  reference  to  place. 
Upon  the  effectiveness  of  this  protest  the  life  of 
democracy  depends. 

Professor  Ely  has  suggested  one  strong  point  in 
favor  of  the  extension  of  municipal  functions  by 
the  ownership  and  operation  of  public  utilities. 
This  policy,  he  says,  would  help  to  establish  a 
better  balance  between  private  and  public  interests.^ 
This  suggestion  has  great  significance.  If  the 
theory  advanced  in  this  chapter,  that  government 
and  industrial  society  are  based  upon  radically 
different  principles  of  social  organization,  is  true, 
and  the  efficiency  of  government  is  measured  by 
its  resistance  to  the  tendency  of  the  organic  prin- 
ciple to  draw  into  its  web  that  part  of  social  activity 
which  we  may  designate  as  public,  then  it  becomes 
clear  that  the  welfare  of  the  people  depends  not 
upon  the  triumph  of  socialism  on  the  one  hand  or 
organism  on  the  other,  but  on  the  maintenance  of 
a  perpetual  equilibrium  between  public  and  private 
interests.  At  the  present  time,  we,  in  America,  by 
common   consent,  are   sick   unto   death  with   the 

^  See  Evolution  of  Industrial  Society,  p.  237. 
227 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

money  mania.  Public  spirit,  civic  conscience,  are 
lamentably  deficient.  As  things  are,  it  does  not 
pay  a,  man  to  have  public  interests,  and  a  man  is 
considered  a  fool  unless  he  works  for  pay.  Civic 
cooperation,  founded  as  it  is  on  the  /oca/  sense, 
taking  account  of  the  universal  characteristics  of 
men  and  pledged  to  the  doctrine  of  equal  oppor- 
tunities, is  the  program  that  promises  reUef  from 
the  gross  injustices  of  a  one-sided  civilization. 
The  man  who  is  not  also  a  citizen  is  an  outcast. 
He  has  no  heaven.  He  is  already  in  outer  dark- 
ness. It  is  the  sum  of  the  shadows  enveloping 
these  men  who  are  in  no  real  sense  citizens  that 
makes  the  twilight  in  which  the  American  city  is 
now  groping.  What  we  must  have  at  any  cost  is 
light,  a  civic  conscience. 


228 


CHAPTER  VIII 

LOCAL  CENTRES  OF  CIVIC  LIFE 

We  have  thus  far  considered  the  main  lines  of 
civic  functions  as  determined  by  the  conditions  of 
city  life  and  the  spirit  of  democracy.  We  must 
now  take  up  the  scarcely  less  important  problems 
of  governmental  organization  in  order  to  see,  if 
possible,  how  the  city  may  adjust  itself  to  its  tasks, 
how  democracy  may  set  to  work  to  accomplish  its 
ends. 

It  is  almost  an  axiom  of  political  science  as  well 
as  of  political  art  that  the  strength  of  popular  gov- 
ernment depends  upon  the  vitality  of  its  local 
units.  We  never  tire  of  referring  to  the  New 
England  town-meeting  as  the  school  of  American 
democracy,  and  one  of  our  most  frequent  laments 
is  that  the  conditions  of  city  life  render  the  town- 
meeting  impossible.  The  town-meeting  method 
of  government  may  have  its  drawbacks  even  under 
rural  conditions.  Certainly  there  are  instances 
where  the  business  of  the  township  is  conducted 
in  a  loose,  extravagant,  and,  perhaps,  dishonest 
manner.  But  the  remedy  lies  right  at  hand,  and 
unless  the  majority  of  the  people  in  a  neighbor- 
hood are  corrupt  or  indifferent,  there  is  no  reason 

229 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

why  township  moneys  should  be  wasted  where  the 
town-meeting  system  prevails. 

Government,  as  we  have  already  noted,  is  based 
upon  locaUty.  States,  counties,  townships,  cities, 
school  districts,  are  territorial  divisions.  A  man 
cannot  vote  .for  presidential  electors  unless  he  lives 
not  only  in  some  state,  but  in  some  election  pre- 
cinct. The  whole  inhabited  surface  of  the  country 
is  divided  up  into  clearly  defined  districts  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  an  accurate  registration  of  the 
popular  will  through  elections.  In  this  country  a 
man  can  vote  in  only  one  place,  and  that  the  neigh- 
borhood of  his  residence.  Moreover,  our  legisla- 
tive bodies  are  generally  elected  by  districts,  and 
every  representative,  senator,  or  alderman  must,  as 
a  rule,  live  in  the  district  where  he  is  chosen. 

I  refer  to  these  well-known  facts  simply  to  show 
that  popular  government  is,  in  its  machinery, 
founded  upon  neighborhood  unity  and  organiza- 
tion. This  is  a  simple  consequence  of  the  doctrine 
that  government  should  be  participated  in  by  all 
men  without  regard  to  their  special  characteristics, 
interests,  or  stations  in  life.  A  peace  congress 
gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  world  does  not  bring 
together  so  many  kinds  of  men  as  a  town-meeting. 
The  American  Economic  Association,  meeting  in 
New  Orleans  or  Washington,  is  a  more  homogene- 
ous body  than  a  well-attended  primary  in  almost 
any  ward  of  any  city.  Government  is  concerned 
with  the  universal  side  of  humanity,  and  the  popu- 
lar will  is  expressed  through  a  consensus  of  opinion 
230 


LOCAL  CENTRES  OF   CIVIC   LIFE 

of  all  kinds  of  people.  Both  logic  and  convenience 
make  neighborhood  the  vital  unit  of  political  or- 
ganization. 

One  of  the  main  concerns  of  democracy  is  to 
protect  and  strengthen  this  unit  of  its  organization 
against  the  inroads  of  organic  society.  The  despair 
of  reform  movements  in  cities  is  the  congestion  of 
reformers  at  the  centre.  These  movements  are 
undemocratic.  Tammany  wins  because  it  caters 
to  the  neighborhood  and  maintains  strong  local 
organizations.  City  life  takes  the  leaven  of  culture 
and  business  ability  out  of  the  loaf  and  puts  it 
into  the  upper  crust.  The  appearance  is  good  but 
the  loaf  is  sodden.  Fifth  Avenue  and  Broadway 
appear  clean  and  bright,  but  where  the  people  live 
Tammany  gets  the  votes.  The  growth  of  cities 
and  the  increased  differentiation  of  citizens  on  the 
score  of  wealth  make  the  neighborhood  less  truly 
a  miniature  of  the  state  and  more  a  class  affair. 
But  we  still  look  to  every  locality  for  its  quota  of 
councillors,  and  if  the  best  blood  of  the  city  is  con- 
gested in  one  or  two  wards,  we  look  to  brawn  to 
represent  the  other  sections.  Brawn  grows  into 
blood  and  brain,  and  the  leaders  of  society  are  con- 
stantly rising  from  the  ranks.  Democracy  loses 
time,  to  be  sure,  by  reason  of  the  leaders  going 
over  to  the  aristocratic  wards  as  soon  as  they  have 
proven  themselves  capable,  but  in  the  unending 
upward  struggle  of  plain  manhood  new  leaders  are 
developed,  and  the  world  goes  slowly  on. 

This  process  is  sufficiently  precarious  and  this 
231 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

progress  sufficiently  slow,  so  that  it  behooves  de- 
mocracy to  resist  these  tendencies  and  spare  this 
waste  of  leadership  as  far  as  possible.  The  de- 
struction of  the  neighborhood  runs  counter  to  real 
social  Hfe  and  the  development  of  general  intelli- 
gence and  political  capacity.  It  is  more  pleasant, 
perhaps,  for  a  man  or  a  family  to  select  associates 
from  all  the  people  of  a  city  according  to  personal 
tastes  and  interests.  It  is  perhaps  convenient  not 
to  know  your  next-door  neighbors,  or,  knowing 
them,  not  to  cross  their  paths.  It  is  attractive  to 
many  to  belong  to  the  fashionable  ^'  set  "  or  a  high- 
^  grade  literary  club.  But  real  culture  and  power 
with  men  come  from  daily  contact  with  those  who 
are  unlike.  The  lack  of  understanding  that  often 
separates  classes  in  the  community  is  due  to  the 
absence  of  neighborhood  life  to  bring  them  to- 
gether. Nothing  needs  the  ceaseless  discipline  of 
the  neighborhood  so  much  as  citizenship.  It  is 
only  thus  that  we  are  kept  from  forgetting  the 
fundamental  equalities  and  universal  necessities  of 
human  life.  Specialization  in  work  is  a  serious 
enough  menace  to  citizenship,  but  specialization  in 
social  relations  is  more  threatening. 

One  of  the  great  drawbacks  in  the  organization 
of  the  life  of  a  great  city  as  a  unit  is  that  there  is 
room  for  few  leaders,  whose  places  can  be  attained 
only  as  a  result  of  intense  and  costly  rivalry.  The 
leader  is  spoiled  because  he  is  submitted  to  too 
high  pressure.  He  cannot  grow  as  he  leads.  He 
has  no  time  to  grow.     He  can  only  hurry  from  one 

232 


LOCAL  CENTRES  OF  CIVIC   LIFE 

superficial  relation  to  another.  The  fusing  of  ten 
neighborhoods  into  one  puts  upon  ten  men  the 
leadership  that  a  hundred  ought  to  share.  Every 
new  project  must  seek  the  indorsement  and  coop- 
eration of  the  same  small  group  of  men.  They 
become  too  busy  to  be  wise.  The  newspapers 
reach  out  through  the  whole  city  with  their  mes- 
sages and  advice,  but  they  get  in  such  a  hurry 
to  tell  the  news  before  it  has  happened  that  thought 
is  sacrificed  to  action,  and  instead  of  being  a  safe 
guide  to  thought  and  a  careful  distributor  of  public 
information,  the  newspaper  becomes  a  Hghtning 
chain  of  cheap  sensations.  And  so  in  various  ways 
congestion  of  life,  centrahzation  of  interests,  and 
the  sapping  of  neighborhood  vitality  tend  to  unfit 
men  for  citizenship. 

One  of  the  most  important  ways  in  which  cen- 
trahzation weakens  popular  government  in  cities  is 
through  the  alienation  of  the  home  from  civic  inter- 
ests. Next  below  the  neighborhood  the  home  is  the 
normal  local  unit  of  society  upon  which  govern- 
ment rests.  Popular  government  cannot  succeed 
without  the  cooperation  of  the  home.  Such  coop- 
eration can  be  fully  secured  only  by  putting  those 
governmental  functions  in  which  the  people  may 
participate  within  easy  reach  of  the  home  by  the 
old-fashioned  land  route.  As  conditions  now  exist  in 
most  of  our  great  cities,  the  home,  the  bulwark  of 
our  national  life,  stands  in  antagonism  to  the  city.^ 

1  See  Professor  L.  S.  Rowe's  article  on  "  The  Social  Conse- 
quences of  City  Growth,"  in  the  Yale  Review  for  November,  1901. 

233 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

Most  city  men  are  away  from  their  families  all 
day  at  work.  If  they  are  to  spend  any  time  with 
their  wives  and  children,  they  must  do  it  evenings 
and  Sundays.  There  is,  consequently,  a  power- 
ful motive  at  work  to  keep  men  from  going  down 
town  on  civic  business  after  the  evening  meal. 
That  involves  a  long  walk  or  a  street-car  ride,  and 
the  loss  of  considerable  time,  so  that  in  most  cases 
the  evening  is  wholly  consumed  by  the  trip.  In 
order  to  get  citizens  generally  to  give  personal 
attention  to  city  affairs  between  elections,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  let  them  meet  near  home,  and  to  open 
the  doors  as  widely  as  possible  for  the  participation 
of  women  in  civic  business.  This  can  be  done  only 
by  means  of  strengthening  the  political  neighbor- 
hood and  establishing  many  centres  of  civic  activ- 
ity. Even  without  an  extension  of  the  suffrage  to 
women,  their  interest  and  active  cooperation  in 
many  phases  of  public  endeavor  could  be  secured. 
Thus  the  home  would  again  be  brought  into  alli- 
ance with  the  city,  and  itself  be  greatly  strength- 
ened by  the  working  together  of  men  and  women 
for  the  furtherance  of  common  ends. 

Even  in  the  most  congested  metropolis  political 
administration  has  not  altogether  abandoned  the 
neighborhood  unit.  It  cannot.  The  conditions 
of  political  activity  make  the  neighborhood  unit 
necessary.  We  have  already  seen  that  elections 
are  always  conducted  locally.  The  same  is  true 
of  the  public  schools.  Every  large  city  is  divided 
into  districts,  and  all  the  children  living  within  any 

234 


LOCAL   CENTRES   OF   CIVIC   LIFE 

one  district  are  primarily  expected  to  attend  the 
school  in  that  district.  The  schools  are  scattered 
everywhere  over  the  city,  so  arranged  as  to  reach 
the  people  in  the  most  convenient  manner  possible. 
So  al^o  the  fire-engine  houses  are  distributed 
throughout  the  city  in  districts.  Fire  protection 
demands  it.  Generally  also  water-mains  and 
sewers  are  laid  more  or  less  according  to  districts, 
and  street  improvements  are  paid  for  wholly  or  in 
part  by  the  abutting  property  owners.  Indeed, 
special  assessment  districts  for  street-improvement 
purposes  make  one  of  the  very  strongest  factors  in 
local  civic  life.  All  these  local  districts  and  local 
political  activities  resist  the  centralizing  influences 
of  the  times  and  tend  to  keep  the  neighborhood 
alive.  Still,  one  important  localizing  factor  is  lack- 
ing. There  is  needed  the  building  in  every  district 
for  local  meetings  to  discuss  public  affairs  and 
develop  public  sentiment. 

The  need  of  public  social  and  political  centres 
is  being  generally  felt.  The  enemies  of  intemper- 
ance find  to  their  dismay  that  the  saloon  has,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  assumed  this  public  function, 
and  immeasurably  strengthened  itself,  not  only  by 
rendering  a  real  social  service,  but  by  gaining  in 
this  way  an  extraordinary  hold  upon  politics.  In 
the  great  cities  the  saloon  is  often  the  social  centre 
of  the  common  people.  Over  the  saloon  are  the 
young  men's  club  rooms  and  the  fraternal  lodge 
rooms.  Political  clubs  frequently  have  their  head- 
quarters in  saloons,  and  it  is  a  well-recognized  fact 

235 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

that  many  of  the  most  successful  political  bosses 
are  or  have  been  saloon-keepers.  The  reason  for 
this  is  not  in  the  attractiveness  of  their  business, 
or  in  the  depraved  instincts  of  the  average  city  voter. 
But  the  saloon  has  stuck  to  place.  It  is  in  an  im- 
portant sense  a  local  centre.  It  has  its  life  in  the 
neighborhood.  It  reaches  the  people  who  have 
neither  time,  nor  clothes,  nor  money  for  making 
frequent  trips  to  the  other  end  of  town  somewhere 
to  seek  the  society  of  congenial  spirits.  The  saloon 
stays  on  the  corner,  and  the  saloon-keeper,  who 
has  political  ambitions,  looks  after  the  petty,  every- 
day, near-at-home,  universal  interests  of  his  neigh- 
bors and  patrons.  This  is  particularly  true  in  the 
great  cities  like  New  York  and  Chicago.  So  strong 
has  been  the  hold  of  the  saloon  upon  politics  that 
in  many  instances  the  people  have  thought  it  nec- 
essary to  get  laws  passed,  forbidding  the  holding 
of  elections  within  a  certain  distance  of  saloons, 
and  to  require  that  the  saloon  be  closed  on  election 
days.  But  the  influence  of  the  saloon  as  a  local 
political  centre  cannot  be  altogether  destroyed  by 
repressive  legislation.  Some  other  local  centre  of 
social  and  political  life  must  be  developed.  For 
under  democracy  neighborhood  interests  are  bound 
to  control  to  a  considerable  extent  the  votes  of  the 
masses  of  the  people. 

The  church  might,  in  some  degree,  become  a 
centre  of  civic  life ;  but  it  is  not  a  universal  insti- 
tution, and  is  not  well  enough  distributed  to  serve 
this  purpose  in  a  complete  way.     What  is  needed 

236 


LOCAL  CENTRES   OF   CIVIC   LIFE 

is  an  institution  democratic  in  its  nature,  and  so 
placed  as  to  be  within  easy  reach  of  all  citizens  in 
their  homes.  The  public  school  is  the  one  institu- 
tion that  meets  this  demand.  Here  are  buildings 
placed  conveniently  in  every  section  of  every  city,  in 
which  education,  the  main  function  of  government 
under  democracy,  already  centres.  Here  the  chil- 
dren of  rich  and  poor  meet  on  common  ground  for  a 
common  purpose.  In  this  institution,  as  a  local  cen- 
tre, are  gathered  into  one  mesh  some  of  the  strong- 
est public  interests  of  the  citizens.  The  school  and 
the  home  are  not  against  each  other  under  any 
reasonably  normal  conditions.  The  teachers  are 
reaching  out  to  get  in  touch  with  the  fathers  and 
mothers  to  secure  their  support  and  cooperation. 
The  school  buildings  and  grounds  represent  an 
enormous  investment  of  the  public  money.  They 
are  used  for  school  purposes  only  a  few  hours 
each  day,  for  about  half  of  the  days  of  the  year. 
With  a  little  readjustment  and  refitting,  with  light- 
ing facilities  made  universal,  and  movable  chairs 
provided,  the  school  buildings  might  be  thrown 
open  to  public  use  for  parents'  meetings,  social 
gatherings,  lectures,  debating  clubs,  and  civic  as- 
semblies. Men  and  women  who  are  unwilling  to 
go  from  one  to  several  miles  away  from  home  to 
attend  a  public  meeting  would  not  hesitate  so  long 
about  going  a  few  blocks  to  meet  their  neighbors 
informally.  This  plan  is  being  worked  out  to  some 
extent  already.  New  York  and  Chicago  have  free 
evening  lectures  in  the  school  buildings.     In  some 

237 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

cities  the  school  grounds  are  made  into  summer 
playgrounds,  and  the  school  buildings  kept  open 
for  vacation  schools.  Even  baths  are  being  in- 
stalled here  and  there  for  semi-public  use.  Every- 
where the  feeling  is  growing  strong  that  the  schools 
should  be  utilized  as  local  civic  centres,  and  this 
movement,  if  not  too  much  controlled  and  prema- 
turely urged  along,  promises  better  things  than 
almost  any  other  movement  of  the  times.  What 
democracy  needs  is  local  social  organization  en- 
tirely independent  of  saloon  influences. 

Our  definite  public  policy  often  runs  counter 
to  the  development  of  local  organization.  It  is 
the  general  theory  in  this  country  that  districts  or 
wards  having  equal  representation  in  legislative 
bodies  should  be  kept  as  nearly  equal  in  popula- 
tion as  possible.  As  a  result  of  the  rapid  growth 
of  cities  and  the  quick  shifting  of  population,  fre- 
quent changes  in  the  arrangement  of  ward  boun- 
daries are  made  necessary  under  this  theory.  Yet 
the  inertia  of  place  organization  often  keeps  old 
ward  boundaries  long  after  there  are  scandalously 
unequal  populations  represented  equally  in  the 
city  council.  This  tendency  of  local  lines,  even 
when  artificially  drawn,  to  persist  in  the  face  of 
inequalities  and  injustice,  is  only  an  illustration  of 
the  fundamental  and  lasting  influence  of  local 
organization.  It  would  seem  that  American  cities 
would  do  well  to  adopt  a  somewhat  different  policy 
in  the  future,  arranging  ward  boundaries  as  nearly 
as  possible  according  to  natural  neighborhood  lines, 
238 


LOCAL   CENTRES   OF   CIVIC   LIFE 

and  then  leaving  them  unchanged.  Gross  inequali- 
ties in  representation  could  be  corrected  from  time 
to  time  by  fixing  the  number  of  aldermen  to  be 
elected  from  the  several  districts  in  accordance 
with  population.  Under  such  a  policy  it  would 
be  possible  in  the  larger  cities  to  have  a  municipal 
building  in  every  ward  or  district,  which  would 
serve  as  a  centre  for  the  civic  life  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. This  policy  is  followed  out,  though  in  an 
entirely  inadequate  way,  in  New  York.  The  sub- 
divisions of  London,  Paris,  and  Vienna  are  well- 
known  examples  of  the  division  of  European 
cities  into  quarters  each  of  which  has  its  local  his- 
tory and  civic  unity.  For  the  subdivisions  of  a 
great  city,  separate  municipal  buildings  in  addi- 
tion to  the  schools  are  feasible  and  may  be  neces- 
sary. In  the  smaller  cities,  however,  the  most 
economical  and  effective  way  to  develop  civic  cen- 
tres, and  organize  citizenship  locally,  is  by  a  larger 
use  of  the  school  buildings  and  their  extension, 
where  necessary,  by  the  addition  of  an  assembly 
hall  and  gymnasium. 

The  ideal  uses  of  the  ward  hall  have  been  well 
set  forth  by  Rev.  B.  A.  Van  Sluyters  in  a  little 
pamphlet  on  The  Expansion  of  Municipal  Func- 
tions} "  In  every  ward  building,"  says  he,  "  I 
would  have  an  assembly  hall  for  free  concerts, 
lectures,  readings,  political  rallies,  art  exhibitions, 
etc.    In  this  ward  building  should  be  a  gymnasium 

1  Published  by  the  Class  in  Applied  Christianity  of  the  Fountain 
Street  Baptist  Church  of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan. 

239 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

with  apparatus  for  the  use  of  all  the  people ;  there 
should  be  games  of  checkers,  chess,  dominoes,  and 
other  suitable  means  of  amusement  such  as  a  bill- 
iard-table and  a  bowling-alley.  Here  I  would  have 
a  reading  room  supplied  with  the  best  of  the 
popular  magazines  and  newspapers,  American  and 
foreign.  There  should  also  be  a  branch  library. 
In  this  ward  building  should  be  bathing  facilities. 
In  connection  with  the  ward  hall  should  be  a  com- 
fort station.  If  necessary,  day  nurseries  could  be 
established  here  so  that  mothers  having  to  work 
could  be  sure  of  having  their  infants  well  guarded 
in  these  nurseries,  rather  than  leave  them  as  now 
to  kindly  but  busy  neighbors  or  thoughtless  older 
children. 

"  Many  other  good  uses  could  be  found  for  the 
ward  building.  It  could  be  used  for  elections, 
ward  meetings,  and  so  on.  And  these  ward  build- 
ings properly  conducted  should  be  open  day  and 
night,  especially  the  library  and  reading  room, 
bath  room,  and  comfort  station.  They  should  be 
open  on  Sundays  and  legal  holidays,  when  the 
people  have  the  most  leisure  to  make  good  use  of 
them.  If  desired,  they  could  be  closed  during 
church  hours. 

'*  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  these  centres  of 
public  usefulness  will  spring  into  existence  fully 
equipped.  Gradually  the  means  will  increase,  as 
the  people  learn  to  profit  by  them.  First,  per- 
haps, free  lectures ;  then  the  branch  reading  room 
and  library ;  then,  if  the  demand  continues,  a  gym- 
240 


LOCAL   CENTRES   OF   CIVIC   LIFE 

nasium  and  amusement  room  could  be  added,  and 
bathing  facilities  for  the  public." 

These  suggestions  may  be  regarded  by  con- 
servative men  as  Utopian.  The  success  of  de- 
mocracy is  also  Utopian.  One  thing  is  sure :  civic 
centres  other  than  saloons  and  dives  are  necessary 
for  the  political  organization  of  the  people  and  the 
effective  expression  of  the  constant  popular  con- 
trol over  government  which  is  the  only  salvation 
of  democracy.  It  is  the  absence  of  this '  that 
palsies  the  hand  of  the  law  and  makes  public 
officials  so  generally  fall  under  the  control,  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  of  selfish  and  vicious  inter- 
ests. The  success  of  free  lectures  in  school  build- 
ings, of  school  baths,  and  of  social  gatherings 
gotten  up  by  teachers  for  parents  shows  that  the 
people  are  ready  for  better  opportunities  for  local 
civic  life  in  some  directions  at  least.  The  enlarge- 
ment and  preparation  of  school  grounds,  wherever 
practicable,  for  small  parks,  would  undoubtedly 
help  along  the  movement  for  local  civic  centres. 
There  is  no  good  reason  why  the  municipal  au- 
thorities should  strive  to  compel  local  organization 
of  the  people.  It  is  only  necessary  to  provide  the 
opportunity  and  lend  the  movement  such  encour- 
agement as  is  manifestly  appropriate  if  our  main 
contention  in  this  chapter  is  correct. 

Already,  as  I  have  pointed  out,  all  elections  are 
held  locally,  and  in  most  cases  members  of  legis- 
lative assemblies  are  chosen  by  districts.  There 
is  a  considerable  movement,  however,  toward  the 
241 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

election  of  city  councils  at  large,  —  that  is,  by  the 
people  of  the  whole  city  voting  as  a  unit.  This 
plan  is  in  fact  a  concession  to  the  theory  that  it  is 
impossible  to  get  good  aldermen  from  the  wards 
where  foreigners  or  other  less  intelligent  citizens 
form  the  majority  of  the  voters.  As  a  practical 
expedient  for  temporary  results  the  general  ticket 
plan  of  election  may  do  very  well,  or  indeed  it  may 
be  all  right  as  a  permanent  policy  to  elect  a  certain 
share  of  the  aldermen  at  large,  as  is  done  in  the 
cities  of  Ohio  under  the  new  municipal  code.  But 
in  general  the  movement  toward  the  general  ticket 
plan  should  be  resisted  until  extremely  good  rea- 
sons can  be  advanced  in  its  favor.  Its  general 
tendency  is  away  from  democracy,  popular  re- 
sponsibility, and  local  political  vitality.  If  fair 
results  are  secured  with  a  council  or  a  board  of  edu- 
cation elected  by  wards,  much  more  is  really  accom- 
plished than  would  be  accomplished  with  the  same 
degree  of  administrative  efficiency  by  an  appointive 
board  or  a  board  elected  at  large.  For  in  the 
former  case  the  results  include  a  constant  process 
of  popular  education  through  participation  locally 
in  public  affairs. 

The  law  in  Massachusetts  provides  for  taking 
a  vote  every  two  years  by  towns  on  the  saloon 
license  question.  Recently  an  act  was  submitted 
to  the  people  of  Boston  giving  local  option  by  dis- 
tricts within  the  limits  of  the  city.  Unfortunately 
the  people  rejected  the  proposed  law.  This  meas- 
ure  would    have   offered   one   admirable   way   in 

242 


LOCAL   CENTRES   OF   CIVIC   LIFE 

which  to  cultivate  democracy  and  stimulate  local 
political  interest  and  solidarity.  The  government 
should  take  advantage  of  all  conditions  which 
make  it  possible  to  leave  public  questions  to  be 
settled  locally.  This  is  the  "home  rule"  princi- 
ple extended  to  wards  or  precincts.  Considerable 
administrative  simplicity  and  efficiency  could  well 
be  sacrificed,  if  necessary,  for  the  benefits  to  be 
derived  from  more  intimate  contact  on  the  part  of 
the  people  in  their  home  districts  with  civic  affairs. 
President  David  Starr  Jordan  has  well  expressed 
the  importance  of  definitely  local  citizenship.  "  The 
lack  of  permanence  in  our  population,"  says  he, 
"is  the  source  of  other  evils.  Migration  diverts 
attention  from  local  questions.  A  man  who  moves 
from  place  to  place  may  be  just  as  good  an 
American  —  or  sometimes  better  —  as  one  who 
stays  at  home,  but  he  is  not  so  good  a  Californian, 
and  he  is  not  so  useful  a  citizen  in  his  relation  to 
local  affairs."^  In  the  long  run  those  who  have 
permanent  local  interests  will  control  local  affairs. 
It  is  best,  therefore,  to  furnish  every  opportunity 
possible  for  the  intelligent  organization  of  these 
local  interests, 

1  See  article  in  Merchants*  Association  Review  of  San  Francisco, 
May,  1897,  ^"^  "The  Government  of  Cities." 


243 


CHAPTER   IX 

POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

The  first  great  question  in  political  organization 
after  the  development  of  local  civic  life  is  the 
question  of  the  suffrage.  Who  shall  vote  in 
local  affairs  ?  It  is  the  general  American  theory 
that  in  municipal  affairs  as  elsewhere  every  male 
citizen  over  twenty-one  years  of  age  should  be 
entitled  to  one  vote  only,  to  be  cast  in  the  voting 
precinct  in  which  he  resides. 

In  theory,  municipal  democracy  is  opposed  to  all 
political  distinctions  among  citizens  on  the  score  of 
property.  However,  a  taxpaying  or  landholding 
qualification  for  voting  on  the  grant  of  franchises  or 
the  issue  of  bonds  is  not  altogether  un-American. 
Franchises  and  bonds  are  really  mortgages  upon 
the  real  estate  of  the  city,  and  so  long  as  we 
adhere  to  private  ownership  of  land,  there  is  consid- 
erable justice  in  the  claim  that  only  freeholders 
should  be  free  to  mortgage  the  land.  So  far  as  the 
voting  of  bonds  is  concerned,  the  restriction  of  the 
suffrage  to  taxpayers  is  not  at  all  unknown  in 
the  United  States.  The  recent  home  rule  amend- 
ment of  the  Colorado  constitution  includes  a 
provision  that  franchises  in  Denver  can  be  granted 
only  by  vote  of  the  taxpayers.  In  Western  cities 
244 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

freehold  qualifications  for  holding  certain  municipal 
offices  is  not  uncommon.  In  Michigan  only  tax- 
payers can  vote  on  school  matters  where  the 
raising  of  money  is  directly  involved.  While 
democracy  sets  man  above  money,  it  does  not 
altogether  disregard  the  holding  of  property  as 
an  evidence  of  good  citizenship  and  lasting  inter- 
est in  local  affairs.  Still  this  evidence  is  hardly 
sufficient  to  be  made  a  qualification  for  suffrage. 
It  ought  rather  to  be  taken  into  favorable  con- 
sideration by  the  people  in  the  choice  of  officers. 
Taxpayers  are  in  little  danger  of  oppression  under 
democracy  so  long  as  they  are  willing  to  pay  their 
tithes  of  personal  service  as  well  as  taxes  to  the 
government. 

Without  discussing  the  incidence  of  taxation,  we 
must  recognize  the  fact  that  democracy  will  not 
admit,  in  cities,  of  a  freehold  qualification  for 
general  voting.  Even  if  women  were  included, 
such  a  restriction  would  create  an  aristocracy. 
Less  than  19*  per  cent  of  the  families  in  Boston 
owned  th^r' homes  in  the  census  year  1900,  and 
more  than  half  of  these  had  homes  subject  to 
mortgage.  In  New  York  City  the  home-owning 
families  numbered  less  than  one-eighth  of  the  total, 
and  in  the  boroughs  of  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx 
less  than  one-sixteenth.  Of  the  11  cities  with 
over  300,000  population  each,  only  one,  Cleveland, 
shows  more  than  one-third  of  the  families  owning 
their  homes,  and  of  the  20  cities  with  more  than 
200,000  population  not    one    shows   40  per   cent 

245 


THE  AMERICAN    CITY 

of  the  families  as  home-owners.  The  whole  i6o 
cities  with  a  population  of  over  25,000  each  show 
in  the  aggregate  practically  three-fourths  of  all 
families  renters.  The  percentages  are :  hired 
homes,  74.3;  owned  homes  free  of  debt,  14.5; 
mortgaged  homes,  11.2.^  These  facts  show  how 
utterly  undemocratic  it  would  be  to  limit  the 
suffrage  to  taxpayers  while  taxpaying  is  practi- 
cally confined  to  freeholders,  If  taxes  were 
levied  against  occupiers  or  householders  in  accord- 
ance with  rental,  then  there  would  be  more  show 
of  justice  in  such  a  limitation  of  the  suffrage. 

The  EngHsh  suffrage  is,  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent, based  upon  the  family  as  the  lowest  political 
unit.  In  America  the  adult  individual  is  regarded 
as  the  unit  upon  which  government  is  built.  A 
young  man  living  with  his  father  has  an  equal 
right  of  suffrage  with  him.  A  woman  Hving  with 
her  husband  has  an  equal  right  with  him  so  far 
as  we  have  extended  the  suffrage  to  women  at 
all.  In  a  sense  English  suffrage  is  based  more 
exactly  on  the  relation  of  government  to  locality 
than  ours.  There  the  owner  of  property  votes 
where  the  property  is  located,  and,  of  course,  the 
occupier  votes  where  he  occupies.  With  us  no 
man  can  vote  except  in  the  precinct  where  he  is  at 
the  time  domiciled,  no  matter  how  little  property 
he  may  have  in  that  place  or  how  much  he  may 
have  elsewhere.  According  to  our  theory  gov- 
ernment is   chiefly  concerned  with  the  rights  of 

'^  Abstract  of  the  Twelfth  Census,  pp.  133-135. 
246 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

men  without  regard  to  property,  but,  of  necessity, 
with  regard  to  place.  It  is  the  place  of  a  man's 
life  and  not  of  his  possessions  that  determines  for 
us  where  he  shall  be  allowed  to  vote.  So  long  as 
the  suffrage  is  generally  denied  to  women,  it  is 
logical  and  proper  that  every  rhan  who  has  a 
family  should  be  required  to  vpte  in  the  locality  of 
his  home.  It  is  true,  however,  that  most  city  men 
live  more  away  from  home  than  at  home,  and  if 
suffrage  were  extended  to  women  so  that  the 
home  would  be  represented  locally,  it  would  not 
be  counter  to  the  principles  of  democracy  to  per- 
mit persons  engaged  in  regular  business  or  work- 
ing continuously  at  the  same  shop  to  vote  where 
their  work  is.  There  would  be  some  considerable 
advantage  in  this  plan.  As  conditions  now  are  in 
many  large  cities,  notably  New  York,  the  wards 
or  districts  which  are  the  centres  of  wealth  and 
traffic  are  under  the  political  control  of  the  most 
ignorant  and  vicious  classes.  Vice  seems  to  seg- 
regate itself,  to  a  considerable  extent,  in  or  near  the 
business  district,  and  the  intelligent  and  well-to-do 
men  of  affairs  take  their  homes  to  the  fashionable 
streets,  or  the  suburbs,  leaving  the  political  con- 
trol of  the  business  section  to  the  night  population, 
which  is,  so  to  speak,  the  residual  wreckage  left 
after  the  daily  "ebb  of  the  tide  of  humanity  that 
surges  through  the  heart  of  every  large  city  while 
the  sun  shines.  The  disadvantage  arising  from  the 
tendency  of  the  best-Btted  to  flock  by  themselves  in 
the  aristocratte  wards  would  be  largely  obviated  by 
247 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

giving  every  man  the  right  to  vote  and  be  voted 
for  in  the  place  where  his  business  is. 

I  This  brings  us  to  the  question  of  woman  suf- 
frage. As  a  general  proposition  it  may  be  said 
that  women  have  no  right  to  vote  in  America 
except  on  school  matters.  The  possession  of  prop- 
erty, the  payment  of  taxes,  the  conduct  of  busi- 
ness, the  headship  of  a  household, — these  things 
do  not  carry  with  them  the  suffrage  right.     Age, 

\male  sex,  residence,  and  citizenship  are  the  qualifi- 
cations that  count.     There  are  some  exceptions  to 

/this  rule.     Four   of   the   Rocky  Mountain   states 

/give  full  suffrage  to  women,  and  Kansas  gives 
/  full  suffrage  in  municipal  elections.  Women  are 
/  often  given  the  school  suffrage  alone.  All  to- 
/  gether  there  are  twenty-six  states  in  which  women 
have  full  or  partial  suffrage.^ 

The  opponents  of  woman  suffrage  sometimes 
point  to  the  fact  that  often  only  a  small  percentage 
of  the  women  vote  where  they  have  the  right. 
In  Boston,  where  women  have  an  equal  right  with 
men  to  vote  for  members  of  the  School  Committee, 
only  18,445  were  registered  in  1902,  as  against' 
111,817  registered  men.^  That  is  to  say,  one 
woman  qualified  herself  for  voting  to  every  six  men 
who  did  the  same.  In  1895  less  than  one-tenth  as 
many  women  as  men,  in  proportion  to  the  number 
qualified  to  vote,  registered  in  the  state  of  Massa- 

^  See  Woman  and  the  Law,  by  George  James  Bayles,  p.  246. 
2  See  the  Monthly  Bulletin  of  the  Boston  Statistics  Department, 
November,  1902. 

248 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

chusetts,  and  only  a  little  over  half  of  these  voted 
even  on  the  question  of  extending  municipal  suf- 
frage to  women.  For  the  period  of  ten  years, 
1892  to  1 90 1,  on  the  average  74.21  per  cent  of  the 
registered  women  of  Boston  voted. ^  This  was 
about  3  per  cent  less  than  the  average  for  the  men. 
It  is  often  observed  that  women  vote  with  less  regu- 
larity than  men,  turning  out  to  the  polls  in  large 
numbers  only  when  some  special  issue  of  great 
interest  to  the  home  is  at  stake.  Thus,  in  1887, 
only  725  women  voted  in  Boston,  while  in  1899 
there  were  19,490  ^ballots  cast  by  women.  Natu- 
rally, we  should  expect  that  women,  being  to  a 
great  extent  devoid  of  political  affiliations  and  party 
traditions,  would  be  independent  voters  so  far  as 
partisan  questions  are  concerned,  —  at  least  until 
woman  suffrage  becomes  general  and  habitual.  It 
is  also  to  be  expected  that  women  will  be  more 
easily  swayed  by  the  character  of  candidates,  and 
vote  more  for  individuals  than  men  do. 

Our  present  American  concept  of  democracy 
|does  not  necessarily  include  the  participation  of 
I  women  in  government.  Still  it  seems  clear  that 
the  extension  of  full  suffrage  to  women  on  an 
equality  with  men  is  a  logical  outgrowth  of  demo- 
cratic tendencies,  and  is  more  than  likely  to  be 
tried  as  a  part  of  the  democratic  experiment. 

In  a  country  where  free  public  schools  are  fur- 
nished for  all  the  children,  illiteracy  of  adults  is 

1  Monthly  Bulletin  of  the  Boston  Statistics  Department,  Octo- 
ber, 1 901. 

249 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

abnormal  and  may  reasonably  be  made  a  bar  to 
the  suffrage.  The  percentage  of  persons  over  ten 
years  of  age  who  are  unable  to  read  and  write  is 
3.87  in  Chicago,  4.39  in  Philadelphia,  4.43  in  St. 
Louis,  5.13  in  Boston,  7.16  in  Baltimore,  and  8.25 
in  old  New  York.  For  the  whole  United  States 
the  percentage  is  10.65,  though  in  most  northern 
states  illiteracy  is  less  in  the  great  cities  than  in  the 
states  at  large.  More  than  two-thirds  of  all  illiter- 
acy is  found  among  the  negroes  and  the  foreign- 
born.^  The  effort  now  being  made  by  many 
Southern  states  to  disfranchise  the  negro  is  incon- 
sistent with  democracy.  The  educational  test  is 
too  severe,  and  no  educational  test  at  all  is  allow- 
able unless  the  state  gives  universal  opportunities 
of  education  to  its  citizens.  The  clauses  granting 
the  suffrage  to  illiterate  white  men  because  their 
grandfathers  had  the  right  to  vote,  is  a  rank  viola- 
tion of  the  spirit  of  An(ierican  freedom.  This  does 
not  affect  many  large  cities  at  the  present  time. 
New  Orleans  being  the  principal  one.  But  the 
colored  vote  is  a  considerable  factor  in  the  politics 
of  many  cities  outside  the  belt  of  southern  states 
where  the  negro  is  being  put  under  the  ban.  In 
advocating  municipal  suffrage  based  upon  adult 
manhood  and  womanhood,  we  do  not  condemn  any 
restrictions  which  are  calculated  to  limit  the  suf- 
frage to  normal  persons  under  conditions  of  freedom 
favorable  to  universal  self-development. 

There  is  one  limitation  upon  the  suffrage  which 

1  See  Abstract  of  the  Twelfth  Census^   pp.  1 6,  17,  1 1 5- 117. 
250 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

is  often  considered  and  has  many  advocates  among 
practical  citizens,  which,  nevertheless,  has  never 
been  tried  to  any  extent  in  the  United  States.  This 
is  compulsory  voting.  The  objection  to  woman 
suffrage  on  the  score  of  non-usage  could  be  met 
by  a  provision  abrogating  every  person's  right  to 
vote  for  a  period  of  years  after  a  failure  to  exer- 
cise that  right,  unless  the  failure  could  be  reason- 
ably excused.  This  would  offer  a  practical  means 
for  urging  citizens  to  the  performance  of  their 
primary  civic  duties  and  for  weeding  out  of  the 
electoral  lists  the  great  body  of  citizens  who  re- 
spond fitfully  and  passionately  to  personal  or 
occasional  appeals  rather  than  deliberately  and  in- 
telHgently  to  the  regular  demands  of  citizenship. 
In  working  out  a  plan  for  compulsory  voting,  it 
might  not  be  inadvisable  to  impose  a  fine  in  case 
of  failure  to  exercise  the  suffrage  as  an  alternative 
to  loss  of  the  franchise.  This,  however,  is  a  matter 
of  detail  that  would  have  to  be  worked  out  by 
experience. 

A  radically  different  proposition,  which  would  in 
effect  be  a  curtailment  of  the  suffrage,  is  the  sug- 
gestion sometimes  made  that  various  interests  be 
given  representation  on  city  councils  and  ad- 
ministrative boards.  This  plan  would  constitute 
an  adjustment  of  government  to  organic  society. 
If  fully  carried  out,  it  would  subvert  the  founda- 
tions of  democracy  and  establish  a  sort  of  govern- 
ment by  guilds.  In  principle  it  recognizes  special 
classes  of  citizen's  with  special  interests.     The  phy- 

251 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

sicians,  for  example,  would  be  permitted,  through 
their  voluntary  organization,  to  choose  one  or  more 
representatives  to  share  in  the  city  government. 
The  lawyers  would  do  the  same.  The  boards  of 
trade  would  do  likewise,  and  organized  labor  would 
have  its  representation  also.  In  some  respects 
this  is  an  attractive  proposition,  as  it  would  guar- 
antee active  interest  on  the  part  of  these  citizen 
bodies  in  municipal  affairs,  and  would  enlist  in  the 
service  of  various  municipal  departments  special 
knowledge  and  experience.  But  so  far  as  it  ap- 
plies to  representation  in  the  city  council  or  law- 
making authority,  it  is  too  radically  opposed  to  the 
principles  of  equal  political  rights  for  all  normal 
adult  citizens  to  be  seriously  considered  in  Amer- 
ica. As  far  as  administrative  boards  are  con- 
cerned, not  chosen  by  popular  vote,  and  given  only 
advisory  authority  in  matters  of  municipal  policy, 
the  representation  of  special  interests  deserves 
consideration.  This  idea  has  been  partially  carried 
out  in  the  New  York  City  Municipal  Art  Commis- 
sion, of  which  some  of  the  members  are  appointed 
from  a  list  of  names  furnished  by  the  Fine  Arts 
Federation.  This  plan  might  perhaps  be  well  ap- 
plied to  boards  of  fire  commissioners  and  boards  of 
health,  giving  representation  to  the  fire  and  life 
insurance  companies.  Sinking  fund  commissions 
might  have  members  representing  the  bankers  of 
the  city.  But  the  list  is  soon  run  through  where 
such  a  scheme  could  be  appropriately  applied.  In 
general  it  should  be  left  to  the  appointing  authority 
252 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

in  the  city  government  to  choose  for  the  adminis- 
trative departments  and  boards  such  citizens  as  are 
deemed  fittest  for  the  work,  without  recognizing  the 
right  of  any  private  organization  to  dictate  or  make 
municipal  appointments. 

Having  considered  the  fundamental  basis  of 
popular  political  responsibility, — namely,  the  suf- 
frage, its  extensions  and  limitations,  —  we  are 
brought  face  to  face  with  one  of  the  most  serious 
of  all  our  municipaL  problems ;  that  is  to  say,  the 
mode  of  organization  by  which  the  qualified  elec- 
tors are  to  make  their  will  effective  in  the  choice 
of  municipal  officers,  and  the  determination  of 
municipal  policies.  According  to  the  general 
habits  of  American  municipal  life,  the  people 
divide  into  parties  in  accordance  with  principles 
or  prejudices  having  to  do  with  national  affairs. 
The  national  political  parties,  differing  as  they  do 
with  reference  to  questions  of  finance,  revenue, 
class  legislation,  national  expansion,  and  so  forth, 
maintain  their  cohesion  by  careful  local  organiza- 
tion. Recognizing  the  fundamental  fact  that  gov- 
ernment is  based  on  place,  they  maintain  their 
party  organization  in  every  district,  city,  and  ward, 
ceaselessly  struggling  for  local  offices  in  order  to 
gain  prestige  and  patronage  to  help  them  in  state 
and  national  elections.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  the 
spoils  of  office,  which  often  represent  various  forms 
of  public  plunder  and  governmental  favoritism, 
furnish  the  greatest  power  of  cohesion  that  the 
political    parties    have,    year    in   and    year    out. 

253 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

Strange  to  say,  it  has  occurred  to  many  men  in 
recent  years,  that  municipal  interests  are  of  suffi- 
cient importance  to  be  determined  on  their  own 
merits  and  without  reference  to  national  issues. 
It  is  the  foremost  plank  in  almost  all  municipal 
reform  association  platforms  that  municipal  affairs 
should  be  entirely  separated  from  state  and 
national  politics.  Many  efforts  have  been  and 
are  still  being  made  to  put  into  practical  operation 
this  apparently  simple  principle,  but  generally  with 
only  moderate  success. 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  is  the  most  notable 
example  among  American  cities  where  the  citizens 
have  forsworn  their  party  affiliations  in  local  affairs 
and  continuously  for  a  long  period  of  years  chosen 
their  city  officials  solely  on  personal  merit  and 
local  issues.  Says  Mr.  F.  W.  Dallinger :  "  In  the 
city  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  since  1867,  with 
the  exception  of  three  years,  nominations  for  mu- 
nicipal offices  have  been  made  entirely  without  ref- 
erence to  national  politics.^  In  each  of  the  three 
exceptional  years,  the  candidate  receiving  a  straight 
party  nomination"  obtained  a  non-partisan  nomina- 
tion in  addition.  Caucuses  for  the  nomination  of 
candidates  for  municipal  office  have  been  some- 
times called  by  a  self-constituted  committee  of 
citizens,  but  more  commonly  by  the  chairman  and 
secretary  of  the  previous  year's  municipal  conven- 
tion of  some  one  of  the  local  parties.  The  fact 
that  Cambridge,  for  the  past  twenty-seven  years, 
has  enjoyed  a  non-partisan  municipal  government, 
254 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

and  is  to-day,  by  impartial  observers,  considered 
the  best-governed  city  of  its  size  in  the  United 
States,  affords  a  fair  test  of  the  wisdom  and  effec- 
tiveness of  the  absolute  separation  of  national  and 
state  politics  from  the  conduct  of  municipal  affairs, 
as  a  remedy  for  the  evils  at  present  complained 
of  in  our  large  cities."  ^ 

New  York  City  has  struggled  for  non-partisan- 
ship, but  even  when  Tammany  has  been  over- 
thrown, the  reform  government  has  been  compelled 
to  compromise  more  or  less  with  party  organiza- 
tions, and  apportion  a  part  of  the  offices  in  the  way 
of  rewards  for  party  support.  The  fact  is,  the 
political  habits  of  the  people  are  so  strong  and  the 
spoils  of  municipal  office  are  so  rich  that  it  is  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  put  the  non-partisan  program 
into  successful  operation.  In  the  nature  of  things 
the  people  must  organize  in  some  way  to  express 
their  will,  and  ther  only  quarrel  that  we  have  with 
the  domination  of  local  affairs  by  national  parties 
is  that  they  thwart  the  expression  of  the  public  will 
on  civic  questions.  Wli^  we  want  to  know  how 
the  people  stand  on  th^  fi-anchise  question  or  Sun- 
day closing  of  saloons,  it  is  absurd  to  take  a  vote 
on  the  tariff  or  Filipino  independence.  To  a  cer- 
tain extent  the  political  parties  do  often  adjust 
themselves  to  local  issues,  and  the  growing  power 
of  the  independent  voter  is  compelling  them  to  do 
so  more  and  more.     Yet  the  results  are  unsatisfac- 

^  Nominations  for  Elective  Office  i?t  the  United  States,  p.  207, 
published  in  1897. 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

tory  at  best,  and  there  remains  no  good  reason  for 
a  Democratic  and  a  Republican  party  on  municipal 
questions. 

It  is  sometimes  suggested  that  municipal  parties 
should  be  built  up  to  control  local  affairs,  something 
as  in  London  the  people  have  organized  into  Mod- 
erates and  Progressives.  To  a  considerable  extent 
Tammany  Hall  and  the  Citizens'  Union  in  New- 
York  are  such  parties,  the  one  based  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  city  government  for  '*  graft,"  and  the  other 
on  city  government  for  civic  self-help.  It  is  rather 
astonishing  to  find  local  parties  in  the  metropolis 
of  America  divided  on  such  a  question  with  the 
actual  preference  of  the  majority  of  the  people  on 
a  full  vote  and  clear  issue  a  matter  of  grave  doubt. 
It  shows  in  what  a  primitive  and  provisional  con- 
dition American  municipal  democracy  still  finds 
itself.  The  great  difficulty  with  local  parties  in 
the  United  States  is  that  conditions  of  city  life  do 
not  offer  the  opportunity  for  opposing  parties  to 
develop  upon  local  issues,  except  those  like  the 
franchise  question  and  the  saloon  question,  which 
are  hopelessly  entangled  in  state  politics  through 
the  customary  interference  of  the  state  legislature 
in  municipal  charter-making  and  police  legislation. 
In  fact  the  state  legislature,  which  at  the  same 
time  elects  United  States  senators  and  regulates 
the  destinies  of  cities  and  villages,  is  the  powerful 
link  that  chains  the  cities  to  the  chariot  of  national 
politics.  Without  municipal  home  rule,  it  is  prac- 
tically impossible  to  establish  local  parties  which 
256 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

can   maintain   themselves  strictly  independent  of 
national  questions. 

There  are  many  who  believe  that  the  exclusion 
of  the  political  parties  from  local  affairs  is  practi- 
cally impossible  even  though  theoretically  desir- 
able. Some  maintain  that  it  is  not  theoretically 
desirable  even.  These  classes  of  people  do  not 
tire  of  asserting  that  attendance  upon  the  party 
caucus  or  primary  is  the  only  and  all-sufficient 
remedy  for  existing  evils.  They  are  apt  to  favor 
primary  reform  and  direct  nominations  as  a  means 
to  the  purification  of  politics  and  the  election  of 
good  men  to  office.  Primary  reform  has  made 
notable  progress  within  the  past  few  years,  and  is 
undoubtedly  efficacious  in  redeeming  the  parties 
from  the  control  of  unpopular  machines.  The 
primary  reform  laws  in  various  states  and  cities 
differ  widely  in  the  emphasis  laid  upon  party 
fealty.  The  Kentucky  law  requires  the  voter  who 
would  participate  in  the  primary  to  register  himself 
as  a  Republican,  a  Democrat,  or  other  kind  of  par- 
tisan at  the  regular  registration  time.  The  Min- 
neapolis law  as  first  enacted  provided  for  a  blanket 
ballot,  and  every  voter  was  permitted  to  participate 
in  the  primary,  voting  on  any  party  ticket  he 
chose  without  declaring  his  political  allegiance. 
The  law  in  Grand  Rapids  compels  the  voter  to 
declare  his  political  party  preliminary  to  receiving 
the  separate  ballot  of  that  party.  If  challenged, 
he  must  take  oath  that  he  is  in  general  accord  with 
the  party  and  expects  to  support  its  candidates  at 
'  257 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

the  coming  election.  An  independent  voter  who 
is  strictly  conscientious  is  debarred  by  those  re- 
quirements from  all  participation  in  the  primary. 
On  the  accepted  theory  of  party  organization,  this 
exclusion  of  the  independent  voter  is  just  and 
appropriate.  Why  should  people  who  do  not 
belong  to  the  party  help  nominate  party  candi- 
dates ?  Nevertheless  there  is  a  great  difference  of 
opinion  among  the  friends  of  primary  reform  as  to 
whether  the  separate  ballot  and  the  open  declara- 
tion of  party  affiHation  should  be  the  rule,  or  the 
blanket  ballot  with  the  simple  requirement  that  no 
voter  shall  vote  for  the  nomination  of  candidates 
on  more  than  one  party  ticket.  The  trend  of  sen- 
timent among  party  men  is  toward  the  former, 
principally  for  the  reason  that  the  blanket  ballot 
offers  the  opportunity  for  members  of  one  party, 
in  which  there  are  no  sharp  contests,  to  help  nom- 
inate the  candidates  of  the  other  party.  It  is 
claimed  that  Dr.  Ames  secured  the  Republican 
nomination  for  Mayor  in  Minneapolis  in  this  way 
by  the  help  of  his  Democratic  followers.  It  was 
this  experience  which  led  to  the  adoption  of  the 
separate  ballot  system  when  primary  reform  was 
made  general  in  Minnesota. 

The  principal  objections  to  direct  nominations 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  party  man  who  is  also 
a  reformer  are  these.  First,  the  candidates  have 
to  thrust  themselves  forward  and  conduct  an  ex- 
pensive campaign  for  nomination  and  a  second 
one  for  election.  The  dignity  of  the  offices  is 
=^58 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

abridged  by  the  scramble  for  them,  and  the  care- 
less voters  who  respond  to  the  persuasion  of  a  keg 
of  beer  are  as  corrupt  as  the  convention  delegates 
who  are  "lined  up"  for  certain  candidates  at  so 
much  a  head.  Then,  through  division  of  voters, 
men  who  do  not  fairly  represent  the  dignity  and 
principles  of  the  party  are  Hkely  to  be  nominated 
by  plurality.  Furthermore,  under  the  system  of 
direct  nominations,  where  important  offices  are  at 
stake,  candidates  are  tempted  to  subsidize  the 
press  and  thus  corruptly  influence  the  voters 
through  their  principal  means  of  receiving  political 
intelHgence  and  information  about  candidates. 
There  is  more  or  less  validity  in  these  objections 
to  direct  nominations,  but  the  cure  for  the  evils 
suggested  is  in  an  alert  public  conscience  and  a  keen 
interest  in  nominations.  No  system  can  work  well 
without  these,  and  the  only  valid  claim  of  primary 
reform  is  that  it  provides  machinery  suited  to  give 
easy  expression  to  these  forces  where  they  exist. 
The  Grand  Rapids  law  provides  that  every  can- 
didate shall  not  only  announce  himself  but  pay  a 
fee  before  having  his  name  printed  on  the  primary 
ballot.  This  fee  amounts  to  ^15  for  the  principal 
city  offices.  These  provisions  are  founded  on  a 
crude  notion  of  political  rights  that  has  developed 
out  of  spoils  politics.  It  is  assumed  that  in  all 
cases  the  man  seeks  the  office,  and  that  every  man 
has  a  right  to  run  for  nomination.  In  order  to 
keep  persons  from  running  who  have  no  reason- 
able chance  of  nomination,  the  payment  of  the  fee 

259 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

is  required  to  make  a  candidate  think  twice  before 
announcing  himself.  This  perversion  of  demo- 
cratic principles  and  degradation  of  public  office- 
holding  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the  condition  of 
American  politics.  Democracy  knows  nothing  of 
the  right  of  every  man  to  run  for  office.  It  knows 
nothing  of  his  right  to  choose  himself,  but  only  of 
his  right  to  be  chosen  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  any 
position  of  public  service  for  which  they  think  him 
fitted.  The  requirement  of  a  fee  operates  to  dis- 
courage poor  men  from  becoming  candidates  and 
also  to  keep  down  small  parties  which  have  no 
immediate  chance  of  electing  their  nominees. 

These  features  of  primary  reform  not  only  do 
not  point  to  municipal  betterment,  but  are  directly 
antagonistic  to  the  best  principles  of  civic  life. 
They  tend  to  strengthen  party  cohesion  and  exalt 
the  ideals  of  spoils  politics.  The  remedy  lies  in 
the  adoption  of  the  principle  of  free  nominations 
by  petition,  the  doing  away  altogether  with  party 
primaries  for  municipal  offices,  and  the  printing  of 
the  names  of  all  candidates  upon  a  single  ballot 
without  any  party  designation  whatever.  This 
plan  has  been  recommended  by  the  National 
Municipal  League  in  its  carefully  worked  out  pro- 
gram.^  It  has  not  been  very  extensively  tried 
in  this  country,  but  is  the  regular  method  of  mak- 
ing municipal  nominations  in  Great  Britain,  except 
that  there  the  names  are  not  all  printed  on  one 
ballot.     An  interesting  advance  in  this  line  was 

1  A  Municipal  Program^  p.  1 76. 
260 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

made  in  Grand  Rapids  in  1903,  when  the  new 
Public  Library  Commission  was  established.  Five 
commissioners  were  chosen  from  twenty-one  candi- 
dates, all  of  whom  had  been  nominated  by  petition 
of  twenty-five  citizens.  In  spite  of  the  large  num- 
ber of  candidates,  the  plan  worked  very  satisfac- 
torily and  a  good  commission  was  chosen.  Even 
better  results  might,  perhaps,  have  been  obtained 
if  the  electors  had  turned  out  uniformly  all  over 
the  city.  As  it  was,  an  abnormally  heavy  vote  was 
cast  in  some  of  the  wards  where  there  were  sharp 
contests  for  school  trustee. 

The  requirement  of  a  nominating  petition  does 
away  with  the  necessity  for  a  candidate's  fee  and 
puts  the  emphasis  upon  the  idea  that  the  office 
should  seek  the  man  rather  than  the  man  seek 
the  office.  It  solves  the  problem  of  nominations 
for  municipal  offices  perfectly  without  the  costly 
machinery  of  party  primaries.  It  does  not  ex- 
clude party  nominations  if  the  parties  have  suffi- 
cient cohesion  to  hold  together  and  support  their 
candidates  on  the  blanket  ballot  without  the  help 
of  the  party  name.  As  a  matter  of  fact  many 
Enghsh  municipal  elections  are  fought  out  on 
national  party  lines,  but  the  ordinary  American 
politician  knows  perfectly  well  that  the  strength 
of  his  candidates  before  the  people  depends  very 
largely  upon  their  names  being  tagged  with  the 
party  name  and  emblem.  Free  nominations  by 
petition  with  all  the  names  printed  together  in 
alphabetical    order    on    one    ballot    without     any 

261 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

party  designation  would  practically  destroy  the 
objectionable  influence  of  party  politics  on  munici- 
pal affairs  as  far  as  elections  are  concerned. 

There  might  still  remain  this  difficulty,  namely, 
how  are  public  policies  to  be  crystallized  and  re- 
ceive popular  approval  except  through  party 
organizations?  To  meet  this  difficulty,  if  such 
it  is,  we  need  only  to  introduce  the  referendum, 
allowing  the  elected  officials  to  formulate  munici- 
pal poUcies  and  submit  the  most  important  ones 
to  the  people  for  their  approval.  In  this  way 
temporary  civic  organizations  would  spring  up 
from  time  to  time  to  influence  the  people  to  vote 
one  way  or  the  other  on  particular  issues.  In 
each  case  the  people  would  be  able  to  express 
themselves  squarely  without  voting  on  the  tariff. 
Indeed,  a  man  could  be  in  favor  of  municipal 
ownership  without  giving  his  vote  for  a  "wide- 
open  town,"  and  the  unfortunate  alliance  that  now 
too  often  exists  between  the  corporation  fighters 
and  the  free-and-easy-morals  people  could  be 
broken  up.  As  things  now  are,  the  corporate 
interests  ally  themselves  with  party  organizations, 
and  an  independent  leader  who  is  struggling  to 
bring  the  franchise-holders  under  municipal  con- 
trol finds  it  easiest  to  get  the  funds  necessary  for 
maintaining  a  long,  hard  poHtical  fight  by  cater- 
ing for  the  support  of  the  criminal  and  vicious 
classes.  Thus,  personal  morality  and  respectabil- 
ity get  divorced  from  the  cause  of  civic  rights  and 
the   enforcement   of    responsibility   upon    wealth. 

262 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

The  division  is  fatally  confusing  and  only  the  cor- 
rupt interests  of  the  vicious  on  the  one  side  and 
the  franchise-grabbers  on  the  other  reap  any 
advantage  from  it.^ 

A  great  many  men  in  this  country,  politicians 
and  others,  practically  admit  that  democracy  has 
in  many  respects  proven  a  failure.  This  is  espe- 
cially true  when  municipal  government  is  under 
consideration.  Very  different  reasons  for  this  un- 
fortunate condition  are  assigned  by  different  men. 
One  class,  notably  business  men  who  have  devoted 
their  lives  to  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  and  are 
dissatisfied  with  political  conditions  because  they 
find  a  great  deal  of  worriment  in  holding  on  to 
their  property,  ascribe  the  alleged  failure  of  de- 
mocracy in  this  country  to  the  ignorance  and  shift- 
lessness  of  the  fourth  estate.  These  men  do  not 
believe  in  manhood  suffrage.  Many  of  them  favor 
a  property  qualification  for  voters,  and  many  see 
the  cause  of  our  ills  in  the  foreign  vote.  At  the 
same  time  they  recognize  the  practical  hopeless- 
ness of  any  movement  toward  a  substantial  limi- 
tation of  the  suffrage.  The  consequence  is  that 
they  favor  a  strict  limitation  of  the  functions  of 

1  This  organization  of  civic  interests  at  cross  purposes  has  been 
well  illustrated  within  the  last  few  years  by  the  experience  of  Chicago, 
Detroit,  Cleveland,  and  Toledo.  In  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
however,  corporate  interests  are  allied  with  the  friends  of  vice  and 
the  advocates  of  municipal  laxity.  In  these  latter  cities  a  decent 
citizen  knows  how  to  vote.  The  results  would  seem  to  indicate  that 
a  division  of  the  forces  of  evil  is  a  good  thing.  Certainly  this  is  so 
where  the  really  good  citizens  are  in  the  minority. 

263 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

government  and  want  the  actual  control  of  pub- 
lic affairs  removed  as  far  as  possible  from  the 
people.  They  believe  that  their  interests  —  and 
they  identify  the  public  interests  with  their  own 
—  can  be  best  protected  from  the  populace  by  a 
roundabout  political  system,  a  series  of  checks 
and  balances,  of  powers  granted  in  one  section 
and  withdrawn  or  curtailed  in  another.  In  short, 
the  working  ideal  of  this  class  of  men,  so  far  as 
they  interest  themselves  in  politics,  is  a  political 
system  in  which  the  popular  will  must  pursue  the 
most  devious  and  difficult  paths  to  secure  effective 
expression.  Thus,  even  if  the  people  do  not  weary 
in  their  efforts  on  account  of  the  legal  difficulties 
to  be  overcome  in  bringing  about  their  desires, 
it  is  still  generally  possible  to  thwart  them  by  a 
concentration  of  the  power  of  wealth  on  certain 
strategic  points  in  the  governmental  machine. 
Democracy  is  a  failure,  these  men  would  say,  but 
we  cannot  get  rid  of  universal  suffrage ;  therefore, 
let  us  so  construct  the  political  machine  that  votes 
will  not  count. 

Men  of  another  class  admit  that  democracy  has 
failed  to  a  lamentable  extent,  but  argue  that  the 
cause  of  this  failure  does  not  lie  primarily  in  the 
ignorance  or  lack  of  thrift  of  the  voters,  but  rather 
in  the  very  machinery  of  government  which  has 
been  devised,  to  a  great  extent,  so  as  to  thwart  the 
effective  expression  of  the  popular  will.  These 
men  say  that  what  we  need  is  not  less  democracy, 
but  more.  They  generally  claim  that  property  is 
264 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

for  man  and  not  man  for  property,  that  in  the  long 
run  it  is  futile  to  attempt  to  protect  vested  inter- 
ests/n?;;^  the  people;  they  must  be  protected,  if  at 
all,  by  them.  These  men  generally  admit  that  the 
people  may  often  be  wrong,  and  certainly  that  they 
may  be  confused  and  blundering  in  their  political 
action.  But,  they  argue,  what  of  it }  The  people 
can  only  learn  by  doing,  and  without  question  the 
moral  strength  and  the  practical  intelligence  of 
the  masses  will  be  immeasurably  increased  by  the 
bona  fide  exercise  of  political  functions.  In  the 
long  run  the  people  can  be  trusted  to  promote 
the  general  welfare.  We  are  all  men  together, 
anyway,  and  under  the  conditions  of  modern  life, 
especially  in  the  great  cities,  it  is  impossible  to 
isolate  individual  welfare.  Conditions  of  life,  say 
men  of  this  class,  are  rapidly  coming  to  the  point 
where  there  is  no  such  thing,  strictly  speaking,  as 
private  welfare,  or  private  property.  We  have 
democracy  in  outward  form,  and  we  have  reached 
a  stage  in  human  progress  where  the  very  worth- 
fulness  of  life  itself  is  bound  up  with  democracy's 
success.  To  try  to  make  universal  suffrage  a  farce 
by  making  it  difficult  for  the  popular  will  to  express 
itself  or  by  putting  the  thumb-screw  of  private 
interests  upon  the  chosen  agents  of  the  people  is 
socially  suicidal. 

The  initiative  and  the  referendum   have   their 

sanction  in  the  same  conditions  that  make  direct 

nominations  and  free  nominations  desirable.     It  is 

not  to  be  contended  that  the  whole  mass  of  the 

265 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

people  can  pass  more  intelligently  upon  most  legis- 
lative questions  than  a  body  of  representatives 
chosen  fairly  from  all  localities  by  popular  vote. 
Often  the  people  cannot  pass  as  intelligently  on 
public  questions  as  such  a  body.  There  are,  to  be 
sure,  certain  broad  issues  affecting  the  common 
life,  such  as  prohibition  and  some  forms  of  taxation, 
where  laws,  to  be  enforced,  must  have  the  general 
support  of  public  opinion,  and  such  issues  may  ap- 
propriately be  submitted  to  vote  of  the  whole  people 
under  any  conditions.  But  conditions  at  the  pres- 
ent time  are  such  that  many  other  questions  must 
be  brought  within  the  purview  of  the  people  if 
popular  government  is  not  to  prove  a  fiasco.  With 
the  power  of  wealth  so  much  concentrated,  espe- 
cially under  corporate  control,  where  the  ordinary 
rules  of  personal  ethics  do  not  seem  to  hold  good, 
it  is  practically  impossible  to  select  an  average  lot 
of  representatives  who  will  not  be  brought  under 
control  by  the  ^//^popular  influences  focussed  upon 
them.  The  government,  whether  in  nation,  state, 
or  city,  must  nominally  at  least  assert  its  authority 
over  large  enterprises,  especially  such  as  are  of  a 
semi-public  nature.  These  enterprises  are  prone 
to  protect  their  private  interests  against  the  en- 
croachments of  the  government  when  it  is  looking 
after  public  interests.  If  the  legislators  cannot  be 
bought  in  the  vulgar  way,  at  least  they  can  be 
argued  over  by  the  superior  wit  and  knowledge 
of  lobbyists.  Most  questions  are  complex,  and 
most  of  the  highest-trained  men  in  the  community 
266 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

stand  ready  to  beat  the  devil  around  the  bush  for 
a  pot  of  gold,  so  that  the  representative  system 
breaks  down  in  the  face  of  present  conditions. 
The  people  are  much  of  the  time  betrayed,  either 
consciously  or  unconsciously,  and  v^^e  get  cor- 
poration government  instead  of  popular  govern- 
ment. On  the  other  hand,  the  gravest  objections 
to  direct  legislation  by  the  people  have  disap- 
peared with  the  settlement  of  the  country,  the 
growth  of  the  press,  and  the  marvellous  develop- 
ment in  facilities  for  transportation  and  the  trans- 
mission of  news.  Now  the  people  can  formulate 
their  judgment  quickly  and  on  many  issues. 

''^^T^urious  compromise  law  was  passed  in  Illinois 
a  few  years  ago,  authorizing  the  submission  of 
questions  to  the  people  for  an  expression  of  opin- 
ion. The  aim  of  this  law  evidently  was  to  provide 
a  means  whereby  legislative  bodies  could  satisfy 
themselves  as  to  the  trend  of  public  opinion  with- 
out being  actually  bound  to  follow  it.  Even  such 
a  law  seems  to  have  been  efficacious  in  diminish- 
ing corporate  power  over  government.  One  of  the 
first  questions  submitted  to  the  people  of  Chicago 
under  this  act  was  the  advisability  of  municipal 
ownership  of  the  street-car  lines.  The  majority  in 
favor  of  municipal  ownership  was  enormous,  and 
since  then  Chicago  has  secured  from  the  legis- 
lature an  enabling  act  by  which  municipal  owner- 
ship has  become  possible.  Even  under  the  stress 
of  existing  conditions,  representatives  cannot  easily 
hold  out  against  the  desires  of  their  constituents 
267 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

when  definitely  expressed  at  the  ballot-box.  The 
popularity  of  direct  legislation  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  people  of  Illinois  voted  five  to  one  in 
favor  of  it  under  the  advisory  referendum. 

The  referendum  has  been  made  use  of  by  the 
Massachusetts  legislature  with  considerable  freedom 
in  recent  years.  New  city  charters  and  important 
charter  amendments  are  commonly  made  condi- 
tional upon  popular  approval  in  the  cities  of  that 
state.  Boston  voted  on  eight  propositions  in  the 
ten  years,  1890  to  1899,  ^-nd  on  the  average  about 
60  per  cent  of  the  registered  voters  have  expressed 
themselves  on  these  questions.^ 

San  Francisco,  Los  Angeles,  Denver,  and  Port- 
land, Oregon,  have  all  adopted  both  the  referendum 
and  the  initiative  in  municipal  affairs.  Oregon  and 
South  Dakota  have  adopted  these  reforms  in  state 
affairs,  and  the  movement  seems  to  be  gaining  great 
headway  in  other  states.  The  initiative  is  only 
another  step  beyond  the  referendum  in  making  the 
government  responsible  to  the  people.  It  gives 
fluidity  to  political  forces.  Any  considerable 
group  of  men  who  are  sufficiently  interested  in  any 
species  of  legislation  can  call  for  a  yea  and  nay 
vote  of  the  people  on  it.  The  roll-call  is  rather 
expensive,  but  experience  shows  that  it  is  not  often 
required.  The  representative  system  works  better 
where  the  people  hold  the  string  rather  than  let 
organized  wealth  get  hold  of  it. 

1  Monthly  Bulletin  of  the  Statistics  Department,  December, 
1900. 

268 


UNIVERSITY    I 


POPULAR  RES?ei4feBrrjTY 


The  principal  advantages  of  direct  legislation 
are  these :  — 

First.  It  gives  the  people's  representatives  an 
opportunity  to  measure  accurately  public  opinion 
on  important  questions.  **  In  a  country  like  ours, 
permeated  with  the  democratic  spirit,"  says  Mr. 
Horace  E.  Deming,  "the  problem  of  securing 
honest,  progressive,  efficient  government  is  at  bot- 
tom essentially  the  same  whether  considered  as 
a  national  question  or  as  one  relating  to  a  single 
city  like  Columbus  or  Philadelphia.  In  both  cases 
the  first  requisite  is  that  the  government  shall  be 
the  product  of  and  conform  to  the  will  of  the 
governed  when  that  will  is  deliberately  expressed ; 
shall  be  evolved  from  and  responsible  to  the  people 
it  governs,  not  imposed  by  some  outside  authority. 
No  other  government  can  be  good  government 
according  to  the  American  democratic  ideal,  and 
the  struggle  to  attain  the  realization  of  that  ideal 
is  the  most  potent  and  most  permanent  factor  in 
our  political  development."  ^ 

Second.  It  provides  a  check  upon  the  power  of 
organized  wealth  to  control  legislation  in  its  own 
interest. 

Third.  It  gives  an  opportunity  for  progressive 
legislation  upon  the  initiative  of  those  who  have 
studied  any  public  question  enough  to  have  formu- 
lated a  definite  program  in  regard  to  it. 

Fourth.    It  gives  thfe  people  the  opportunity  to 

^  Publications  of  the  National  Municipal  League^  Pamphlet 
No.  7,  p.  7. 

269 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

express  their  will  on  definite  issues  without  refer- 
ence to  parties  or  individuals. 

Fifth.  It  furnishes  a  powerful  incentive  to 
popular  education  in  citizenship  by  compelling  the 
people  to  formulate  and  register  their  opinions  on 
public  questions.  In  this  way,  and  perhaps  in 
this  way  only,  can  the  rank  and  file  of  the  electors 
be  trained  in  the  political  self-control  and  intelligent 
cooperation  necessary  for  the  realization  of  the 
main  purposes  of  democracy. 

It  is  often  said  that  men  are  too  busy  to  attend 
to  their  civic  duties.  This  allegation  is  for  the 
most  part  beside  the  mark.  The  trouble  is  that  on 
account  of  our  awkward  political  machinery  a  citizen 
cannot  register  his  public  opinion  effectively  with- 
out giving  his  whole  time  to  it.  Political  interests 
touch  him  daily  in  his  work  and  play,  but  he  is 
cut  off  from  responding  to  them  on  the  spot.  The 
electrical  circuit  is  incomplete.  The  return  current 
from  the  citizen  is  through  the  ground,  and  the 
lightning  of  the  public  will  creeps  feebly  back, 
doing  damage  by  electrolysis  and  wasting  its 
strength  before  getting  to  its  destination. 

All  the  arguments  in  favor  of  direct  legisla- 
tion as  a  democratic  method  apply  with  particular 
force  to  cities.  There  local  questions  are  distinct 
and  affect  the  whole  population  intimately.  The 
narrow  space  covered  and  the  excellent  facilities  for 
public  discussion  through  the  press  and  otherwise 
make  it  comparatively  easy  for  citizens  to  form  in- 
telligent judgments  quickly  on  the  issues  pending. 
270 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

There  is  one  further  development  of  the  ma- 
chinery for  the  popular  control  of  government 
which  is  sometimes  advocated.  I  refer  to  what  is 
known  as  the  recall.  The  charter  drafted  by  the 
first  charter  commission  of  Denver  and  rejected  by 
the  people,  contained  a  provision  to  the  effect  that 
on  petition  of  30  per  cent  of  the  electors  any 
elected  official  could  be  made  to  stand  for  reelec- 
tion at  any  time  during  his  term  of  office.  The 
regular  term  of  office  was  fixed  at  four  years.  In 
Los  Angeles,  the  recall  was  incorporated  into 
the  city  charter  by  an  amendment  in  1903.  The 
petitions  to  put  it  into  practical  operation  must  be 
signed  by  25  per  cent  of  the  voters.  Terms  of 
office  in  Los  Angeles  are  two  years. 

The  recall  is  intended  to  keep  elected  officials  in 
line  with  public  sentiment  by  requiring  them  to 
procure  a  vote  of  confidence  from  the  people  on 
evidence  being  presented  that  a  sufficient  number 
of  the  citizens  are  dissatisfied.  Direct  legislation 
furnishes  a  means  for  popular  control  of  legislative 
policies.  The  recall  would  give  the  people  power 
over  administrative  policies  so  that  the  enforcement 
of  laws  could  be  compelled  whenever  public  senti- 
ment favored  law  enforcement.  American  cities 
are  now  troubled  with  political  hypocrisy  which  is 
shielded  by  the  fact  that  one  set  of  authorities 
makes  the  laws  and  another  administers  them, 
neither  set  being  subject  to  adequate  popular  con- 
trol whenever  money  rather  than  honor  is  the 
leading  official  motive.     Direct  legislation  and  the 

271 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

recall  would  bring  law-making  and  law-enforcement 
under  the  immediate  control  of  the  same  body,  the 
people.  This  would  bring  about  greater  harmony 
in  government  and  would  certainly  tend  to  destroy 
the  hypocrisy  that  makes  our  city  government  so 
often  a  byword. 

Another  line  of  reform  that  is  often  urged  is 
minority  or  proportional  representation.  This 
proposal  is  based  on  a  recognition  of  the  perma- 
nence of  the  party  system  or  of  class  interests. 
However  valuable  it  may  prove  in  national  or  state 
politics,  its  application  to  municipal  government  is 
quite  unnecessary,  with  the  reforms  already  sug- 
gested. The  plan  usually  involves  election  by  gen- 
eral ticket,  which  runs  counter  to  the  development 
of  local  political  centres  as  here  advocated.  The 
representation  of  the  minority  presupposes  party 
differences,  whereas  it  is  our  contention  that  mu- 
nicipal elections  should  take  place  without  divisions 
along  national  party  lines.  Election  by  districts, 
the  initiative,  the  referendum,  and  the  recall  would 
obviate  any  possible  necessity  of  special  provision 
for  the  representation  of  minorities  on  local  issues. 
Proportional  representation  would  apply  where 
there  are  several  parties  with  considerable  strength, 
and  in  municipal  affairs  would  most  naturally  lead 
to  the  representation  of  special  interests,  which  we 
have  already  discussed  and  dismissed  as  undemo- 
cratic. 

The  whole  democratic  theory  of  popular  respon- 
sibility calls  for  fluidity  in  the  organization  of  the 
272 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

government,  so  that  the  popular  will  shall  be  most 
readily  and  effectively  translated  into  the  public 
will.  This  applies  particularly  to  nominations  and 
elections,  and  the  determination  of  policies.  The 
machinery  of  government  and,  in  particular,  that 
part  of  it  through  which  the  popular  will  is  crystal- 
lized and  expressed,  needs  to  be  perfected.  The 
"  machine  "  in  politics,  as  it  now  exists,  is  a  more 
or  less  private  affair  which  does  not  furnish  a 
means  for  the  free  expression  of  the  people's  will. 
The  boss,  our  uncrowned  king,  is  the  man  who 
manipulates  the  machine.  There  is  nothing  objec- 
tionable in  the  paramount  influence  of  certain  indi- 
viduals, so  long  as  they  are  the  normally  chosen 
leaders  of  the  people,  and  can  hold  their  power 
only  while  the  people  will  it.^ 

In  fact  what  we  need  more  than  anything  else 
in  pontics  is  the  freeing  of  the  individual,  so  that 
any  citizen  or  group  of  citizens  shall  be  able  to  take 
their  purposes  before  the  people  and  get  a  definite 
expression  of  the  popular  will  on  any  subject  that 
appeals  to  the  people's  interests.  For  this  reason, 
the  percentage  of  voters  required  on  the  initiative 
and  referendum  petitions  should  not  be  high.  Ten 
per  cent  is  enough  in  large  cities.  The  freeing  of 
the  individual  would  encourage  those  who  are 
specially  qualified  along  particular  lines  to  associ- 
ate themselves  with  the  municipal  departments  in 

^  See  Professor  Goodnow's  chapters  on  "  The  Boss  "  and  "  Re- 
sponsibility of  Parties  and  Party  Leaders,"  in  Politics  and  Adminis- 
tration^  pp.  168-254. 

"^  273 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

voluntary  committees  to  give  the  public  the  benefit 
of  their  knowledge  and  interest.  As  things  now 
are  in  most  American  cities  little  or  no  effort  is 
made  to  secure  the  voluntary  cooperation  of  citi- 
zens with  the  city  government  in  this  way. 

It  seems  hardly  necessary  to  add  at  the  close  of 
this  chapter  that  all  the  means  suggested  for  secur- 
ing the  better  political  organization  of  the  people 
would  be  futile  without  a  carefully  protected  ballot. 
Absolute  honesty  in  the  conduct  of  elections  is  a 
matter  of  primary  importance,  and  the  election 
officer  who  commits  fraud,  the  citizen  who  corruptly 
bargains  away  his  vote,  and  all  those  who  strive  to 
thwart  the  honest  expression  of  the  people's  will 
should  be  dealt  with  unsparingly  by  the  law  and 
the  public  prosecutors.  The  grosser  forms  of 
election  frauds  have  become  comparatively  rare  in 
New  York  City  in  recent  years.  Baltimore  has 
cleaned  itself  up  to  a  considerable  extent.  But 
Philadelphia  still  wallows  in  the  slough  of  electoral 
corruption.  It  is  not  believed,  however,  that  elec- 
tion frauds  on  a  large  scale  take  place  any  more  in 
most  of  our  cities.  The  corruption  of  the  elector- 
ate now  common  is  accomplished  by  promises  of 
position,  by  the  distribution  of  cigars  and  beer, 
by  appeals  to  personal  or  party  prejudices,  and  by 
other  means  which  operate  chiefly  outside  of  the 
polling  place. 

**  The  people  are  responsible  "  for  the  character 
of  their  government,  but  this  responsibility  is  more 
theoretical  than  actual  where  no  adequate  methods 
274 


POPULAR  RESPONSIBILITY 

are  devised  for  their  making  response.  The  pur- 
pose of  the  changes  in  our  form  of  government 
suggested  in  this  chapter  is  to  enable  the  people  to 
respond,  so  that  the  government  will  truly  reflect 
their  will  and  furnish  an  accurate  measure  of  the 
progress  or  decay  of  the  political  capacity  of  nation, 
state,  or  city. 


27s 


CHAPTER  X 

.  OFFICIAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

There  is  no  consistent  theory  of  official  responsi- 
bility in  American  cities,  and  consequently  we  find 
every  type  of  municipal  organization  in  various 
degrees  and  combinations,  so  that,  viewed  as  a 
whole,  our  city  government  is  a  chaos  of  forms. 
We  have  a  half-hearted  theory  that  the  separation 
of  legislative  and  executive  powers,  which  is  a 
marked  characteristic  of  our  state  and  national 
governments,  should  be  carried  out  in  local  gov- 
ernment also,  and  in  a  general  way  this  is  done, 
though  subject  to  countless  limitations  and  excep- 
tions. We  also  think  that  the  chief  executive  of 
the  city  should  be  elected  by  the  people.  This 
rule  is  universal  with  us  outside  of  the  city  of 
Washington,  except  when  Mr.  Quay  suspends 
popular  government  in  Pennsylvania  for  a  season. 
We  also  have  everywhere,  except  in  Washington 
city,  a  municipal  legislative  assembly  variously 
called  the  common  council,  the  city  council,  coun- 
cils, the  board  of  aldermen,  the  board  of  super- 
visors, the  municipal  assembly,  etc.,  and  having 
at  least  a  nucleus  of  ordinance-making  powers. 

We  are  toying  with  the  theory  that  official  re- 
sponsibility should  be  concentrated  in  the  hands  of 
276 


OFFICIAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

one  man  elected  by  the  people  for  a  comparatively 
short  term  of  office.  But  the  real  desideratum 
of  municipal  organization  is  the  definition  rather 
than  the  concentration  of  responsibility.  The  citi- 
zens should  be  able  to  find  with  ease  which  one 
of  their  official  servants  is  responsible  for  the  per- 
formance of  any  particular  function  of  govern- 
ment, and  get  at  him  if  he  fails  to  do  his  duty. 
We  want  to  be  able  to  tell  who  is  neglecting  what, 
and  bring  pressure  to  bear  upon  him  to  compel 
him  to  carry  out  the  will  of  the  people.  We  want 
also  so  to  distribute  official  duties  that  we  shall 
get  the  best  possible  results  when  the  average 
character  of  the  men  likely  to  hold  office  is  taken 
into  account.  This  is  extremely  important,  for  it 
is  no  more  possible  to  get  an  adequate  response 
from  heaping  responsibility  upon  an  ignorant  or 
weak  man  than  it  is  to  store  a  pail  of  water  in  a 
teaspoon.  The  responsibility  will  slop  over  if  the 
man  is  not  big  enough.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to 
think  that  there  are  plenty  of  men  in  any  city  who 
are  capable  of  taking  up  the  executive  and  ad- 
ministrative work  of  the  city,  and  carrying  it  on 
successfully  if  only  they  are  given  full  authority. 
We  have  few  trained  mayors  in  the  United  States, 
and  mere  business  experience  often  proves  almost 
worthless  in  a  great  political  office. 

The  "  council  system "  may  be  regarded,  the 
whole  world  considered,  as  the  norm  of  municipal 
organization  under  popular  government,  and  all 
other  systems  as  modifications  of  it.     The  council 

277 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

system  is  found  in  its  purest  form  in  the  cities  of 
Great  Britain.  There  practically  the  whole  cor- 
porate power  of  the  city  is  in  the  hands  of  a  body 
of  men  chosen  by  the  electors,  except  that  those  so 
elected  may  add  one-third  to  their  own  number  by 
their  own  choice.  The  council  elects  a  mayor  who 
is  titular  head  of  the  city  government,  but  continues 
to  be  a  member  of  the  council,  with  only  the  ordi- 
nary powers  of  a  councillor.  The  council  elects 
committees  of  its  own  number,  each  of  which  has 
charge  of  a  special  department  of  the  city  govern- 
ment subject  to  the  approval  and  control  of  the 
whole  council.  All  executive  officers  are  appointed 
by  the  council.  All  municipal  projects  that  come 
within  the  scope  of  the  city's  powers  are  worked 
out  by  the  council  and  determined  upon  by  it. 
Every  municipal  enterprise  is  carried  out  by  the 
council's  servants  under  its  supervision.  Each 
member  of  the  council  is  responsible  to  his  con- 
stituents for  the  part  he  takes  in  official  proceed- 
ings, but  this  responsibility  can  be  enforced  only 
at  the  end  of  his  term  if  he  stands  for  reelection, 
and  by  the  pressure  of  public  opinion  through  the 
ordinary  channels  of  social  intercourse  at  other 
times.  The  council  may  be  elected  either  on  gen- 
eral ticket  or  by  districts  with  one  or  more  repre- 
sentatives each,  the  latter  being  the  general  practice 
in  towns  and  cities  of  any  considerable  size. 

Even  in  England  the  council  system  has  been 
subjected  to  certain  moderate  limitations.     Educa- 
tion, not  being  considered  strictly  a  municipal  func- 
278 


OFFICIAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

tion,  has  only  recently  been  brought  within  the 
scope  of  the  city  council.  Poor  relief  still  remains 
under  local  boards  independent  of  the  town  coun- 
cils. The  auditing  officers  of  the  corporation  are 
elected  by  the  people,  and  the  people  decide  as  to 
whether  the  city  shall  adopt  certain  optional  legis- 
lation, such  as  the  free  libraries  act. 

In  the  United  States  the  council  system  has 
been  modified  in  so  many  ways  as  to  be  hardly  rec- 
ognizable. The  first  great  modification  of  it  is  in 
the  separation  of  executive  and  administrative  func- 
tions from  the  scope  of  the  council  and  in  placing 
them  in  the  hands  of  officers  independently  re- 
sponsible to  the  people.  The  election  of  the 
mayor  by  popular  vote  is  in  itself  a  serious  en- 
croachment upon  the  council  system  even  where 
the  authority  of  the  mayor  is  greatly  limited.  It 
marks  the  creation  of  a  coordinate  authority,  and 
points  to  the  time  when  the  council  is  to  become 
merely  a  legislative  body.  It  is  not  long  before 
other  officials,  such  as  the  treasurer,  the  auditor, 
the  city  attorney,  and  the  members  of  various  ad- 
ministrative boards  are  elected  by  the  people,  or 
appointed  by  the  mayor  or  governor.  The  coun- 
cil often  retains  some  control  over  the  personnel 
of  the  administration  by  means  of  the  right  to 
approve  or  reject  the  mayor's  appointments. 

The  complete  separation  of  the  executive  from 

the  legislative  department  is  not  attained  even  in 

the  national  government.      Besides  the  power  of 

confirmation  of  appointments  given  to  the  United 

279 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

States  Senate  by  law,  the  members  of  the  na- 
tional legislative  body  have  great  powers  of  patron- 
age individually  which  are  accorded  to  them  by 
political  custom.  In  cities  the  members  of  the 
council  have  less  individual  patronage  but  more 
authority  as  a  body  to  control  official  appointments. 
In  many  cases  the  clerk  of  the  council,  who  is  also 
the  city  clerk,  is  still  chosen  by  the  city's  legisla- 
tive body.  Indeed  in  the  smaller  cities  the  council 
often  retains  very  considerable  powers  of  appoint- 
ment and  administrative  supervision.  For  example 
in  Dallas,  a  city  of  nearly  50,000  population  and 
one  of  the  largest  towns  in  Texas,  the  new  char- 
ter of  1899,  after  providing  for  the  election  of 
seventeen  officials  by  popular  vote,  gives  to  the 
city  council  the  power  of  choosing  all  appointive 
officers  with  the  exception  of  the  police  and  fire 
commissioners,  who  are  appointed  by  the  governor 
of  the  state,  and  the  members  of  the  police  and 
fire  departments,  who  are  appointed  by  the  com- 
missioners. Among  the  officials  appointed  by 
the  council  are  a  city  secretary,  a  city  electrician, 
a  city  engineer,  a  secretary  of  waterworks,  and  an 
auditor. 

The  charter  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  a  city  of 
80,000  population,  provides  for  the  election  of  ten 
administrative  officials  by  popular  vote.  The  or- 
ganization of  the  executive  department  is  beyond 
ordinary  comprehension,  but  the  city  council  re- 
tains the  right  to  establish  new  offices  and  deter- 
mine how  they  shall  be  filled.     The  council  may 

280 


OFFICIAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

also  remove  members  of  the  Board  of  Public 
Works  and  Affairs  by  a  three-fourths  vote  after  a 
hearing,  subject  to  no  appeal.  As  this  board  has 
the  appointment  of  all  subordinate  officials  pro- 
vided for  by  the  charter,  including  even  the  police- 
men and  firemen,  the  control  of  the  council  over 
its  members  is  of  considerable  importance.  The 
power  to  remove  city  officials  by  special  vote  with 
or  without  a  trial  is  a  remnant  of  administrative 
authority  quite  commonly  remaining  with  city 
councils. 

On  the  other  hand  the  new  charter  of  Portland, 
Oregon,  the  new  municipal  code  of  Ohio,  and 
many  of  the  charters  of  the  great  cities  confine 
the  council  to  legislative  functions  almost  exclu- 
sively. 

The  second  important  modification  of  the  council 
system  is  found  in  the  legislative  powers  of  the 
mayor.  In  Chicago  and  many  smaller  cities  the 
mayor  presides  over  the  council.  In  Grand  Rapids 
he  even  appoints  the  council  committees.  Further- 
more, the  mayor's  veto  is  an  almost  universal 
institution  in  American  cities.  The  typical  form 
of  the  veto  power  gives  the  mayor  the  right  to  file 
objections  to  any  ordinance  or  resolution  passed 
by  the  council  within  a  certain  number  of  days, 
with  the  effect  that  the  ordinance  or  resolution 
will  not  go  into  force  unless  repassed  by  an  abso- 
lute two-thirds  majority  of  the  council.  In  many 
cases,  however,  the  veto  power  has  been  extended 
to  apply  to  items  in  appropriation  bills.  In  Nash- 
281 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

ville,  indeed,  the  mayor  may  veto  separate  provi- 
sions of  any  ordinance.  Furthermore,  the  veto  power 
has  been  so  extended  in  some  cities  that  for  certain 
classes  of  ordinances  a  three-fourths,  four-fifths,  or 
five-sixths  vote  of  the  council  is  necessary  to  over- 
come the  mayor's  objections.  In  New  York  City 
the  mayor's  veto  of  a  franchise  grant  is  final.  In 
some  cases  the  influence  of  the  mayor  and  other 
executive  officers  over  legislation  is  increased  by 
the  grant  of  the  right  to  them  to  attend  council 
meetings  and  participate  in  debate,  though  with- 
out a  vote. 

A  still  further  modification  of  the  council  system 
is  found  in  those  cities  where  a  part  of  the  legisla- 
tive functions  have  been  transferred  to  other  local 
boards,  such  as  the  board  of  education,  the  board 
of  health,  and  other  boards  having  in  charge  special 
departments  of  municipal  government.  It  is  often 
true  that  education  is  not  under  the  direct  control 
of  the  council  at  all,  though  in  some  cases,  where 
there  is  an  independent  elective  school  board,  the 
council  has  the  right  to  revise  the  annual  school 
budget.  In  Cleveland,  since  1 89 1 ,  the  school  system 
has  been  organized  on  an  elaborate  plan  by  itself 
with  a  strict  separation  of  executive  and  legislative 
authorities.  The  board  of  health  often  occupies  a 
semi-independent  position  in  city  government  under 
the  authority  of  the  general  state  law  governing 
health  administration.  In  the  city  of  New  Haven 
there  is  a  paving  commission  appointed  by  the 
mayor.     It  is  the  duty  of  this  commission  to  deter- 

282 


OFFICIAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

mine  what  kind  of  pavements  shall  be  laid  in  streets 
which  the  council  has  ordered  improved.  The 
sanitary  drainage  district  and  the  park  boards  of 
Chicago  have  certain  legislative  functions  quite 
independent  of  the  city  council. 

The  most  important  limitation  of  the  council's 
legislative  powers  on  behalf  of  other  local  boards 
is,  however,  in  the  department  of  finance.  In  the 
middle  of  the  last  century  it  was  customary  in  New 
York  for  the  state  legislature  to  make  the  annual 
tax  levy  for  municipal  purposes  in  the  metropolis. 
The  spirit  of  partisanship  was  so  strong  and  the 
inefficiency  of  the  city  council  so  marked  that  it 
was  not  thought  safe  to  leave  the  city  authorities  in 
control  of  local  finances.  In  1873,  however,  fol- 
lowing one  of  the  most  remarkable  periods  of 
municipal  corruption  and  extravagance  in  the 
annals  of  any  American  city,  the  statesmen  of  New 
York  hit  upon  a  new  plan  for  the  control  of  the 
appropriations  of  the  reformed  city.  A  board  of 
estimate  and  apportionment  was  established,  made 
up  of  the  mayor,  the  comptroller,  and  certain  other 
city  officials,  all  ex  officiis.  This  board  was  given 
authority  to  prepare  the  annual  budget  for  sub- 
mission to  the  council,  which  had  the  right  to  reduce 
but  not  to  increase  any  items.  The  general  man- 
agement of  the  finances  and  responsibility  for  the 
city's  credit  were  lodged  with  this  board.  The  plan 
proved  eminently  successful  so  far  as  the  protection 
of  the  city's  credit  was  concerned,  and  has  been 
considerably  imitated    in    American    cities.     The 

283 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

board  of  estimate  and  apportionment  as  now 
organized  in  New  York  City  is  composed  of  the 
mayor,  the  comptroller,  and  the  president  of  the 
board  of  aldermen,  who  have  three  votes  each; 
the  presidents  of  the  boroughs  of  Manhattan  and 
Brooklyn,  with  two  votes  each  ;  and  the  presidents 
of  the  boroughs  of  Queens,  Richmond,  and  the 
Bronx,  with  one  vote  each.  All  of  these  members 
are  elected  officials.  Prior  to  the  charter  revision 
of  1900  the  board  consisted  of  five  members  with 
one  vote  each,  including  the  mayor  and  two  of  his 
appointees.  The  board  of  estimate  and  apportion- 
ment is  required  to  prepare  the  annual  budget  and 
submit  it  to  the  board  of  aldermen  for  approval. 
The  aldermen  have  twenty  days  for  its  consideration, 
but  are  not  permitted  to  increase  any  item  of  the 
appropriations,  to  insert  any  new  item,  or  to  change 
the  conditions  of  the  various  items  as  submitted  to 
them.  Furthermore,  the  aldermen  are  not  author- 
ized to  reduce  appropriations  for  the  payment  of 
interest  or  principal  of  the  public  debt  or  for  expen- 
ditures made  mandatory  under  the  law.  If  the 
aldermen  take  no  action,  the  budget  stands  as 
reported  to  them.  If  they  reduce  any  item,  the 
mayor  may  veto  their  action,  and  a  three-fourths 
vote  of  the  aldermen  is  required  to  override  his 
veto.  Under  these  conditions  it  can  be  easily  seen 
that  the  New  York  City  council  has  very  narrow 
financial  powers.  Careful  provision  is  made  in  the 
charter  for  the  payment  of  the  city's  debt,  and 
the  board  of  estimate  and  apportionment  has  been 
284 


OFFICIAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

amply  authorized  and  instructed  to  protect  the 
city's  credit.  Indeed,  the  board  is  practically 
supreme  in  all  financial  matters.  At  least,  no  local 
improvement  can  be  made,  no  franchise  be  granted, 
no  city  undertaking  be  put  through,  without  its 
approval. 

As  already  stated,  this  plan  of  financial  control 
has  been  copied  in  other  cities.  It  is  considered  a 
real  triumph  in  legislative  ingenuity.  It  provides 
a  plan  by  which  a  city  can  weather  flagrant  cor- 
ruption and  extravagance  without  becoming  bank- 
rupt. Generally  speaking,  a  city's  bondholders  do 
not  worry  over  the  amount  of  the  municipal  debt, 
provided  only  that  all  technical  requirements  have 
been  complied  with  and  provision  made  for  interest 
and  sinking  fund  charges.  It  may  be  doubted 
whether  this  board  has  reduced  taxes,  but  in  any 
case  it  has  made  bonds  ironclad. 

In  New  Haven  the  body  is  called  the  board  of 
finance,  and  is  composed  of  the  mayor,  the  comp- 
troller, two  aldermen,  and  three  citizens  appointed 
by  the  mayor,  one  each  year  for  a  term  of  three 
years.  This  board  has  about  the  same  powers  as 
the  New  York  board  with  reference  to  the  budget, 
though  the  council's  authority  is  even  more  re- 
stricted, as  it  requires  a  two-thirds  vote  to  make 
any  change  whatever  in  the  estimates  of  the  board 
of  finance.  The  school  tax  is  levied  directly  by 
this  board  without  the  intervention  of  the  council. 
The  board  of  finance  also  acts  as  a  committee  on 
claims  and  accounts,  which,  though  not  a  strictly 

2»S 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

legislative  function,  is  one  of  considerable  impor- 
tance in  many  city  councils.  This  board  also  has 
authority  to  fix  salaries.  Rochester,  Syracuse, 
Albany,  Troy,  and  Utica,  being  cities  of  the  second 
class  in  the  state  of  New  York,  each  has  a  board 
of  estimate  and  apportionment  composed  of  five 
executive  officers,  including  the  mayor  and  two  of 
his  appointees. 

The  Baltimore  board  of  estimates  is  constituted 
in  about  the  same  manner,  and  has,  in  addition  to 
its  budgetary  powers,  authority  to  revise  proposed 
franchise  grants  and  fix  the  compensation  for  fran- 
chises before  they  are  granted.  The  Detroit  board 
of  estimates  is  a  much  more  popular  body,  being 
composed  of  five  members  elected  at  large  and  two 
elected  from  each  of  the  seventeen  wards.  The 
Detroit  board  is  also  peculiar  in  this,  that  the 
budget  is  first  passed  upon  by  the  council  and 
then  referred  to  the  board  for  final  approval  or  re- 
vision in  the  direction  of  reducing  the  appropria- 
tions but  not  increasing  them. 

Sometimes  the  financial  powers  of  the  council 
are  not  absolutely  curtailed,  but  their  exercise  is 
made  dependent  upon  the  concurrent  will  of 
special  majorities.  Thus  in  St.  Paul,  under  the 
charter  of  1900,  where  the  common  council  is  a 
two-chambered  body,  **no  appropriation  of  money, 
or  resolution,  order,  or  ordinance  for  the  payment 
of  money  or  creating  any  pecuniary  liability,  shall 
be  valid  or  operative,"  unless  passed  by  an  absolute 
two-thirds  affirmative  vote  in  both  chambers ;  and 
286 


OFFICIAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

if  vetoed  by  the  mayor,  such  a  measure  requires  an 
absolute  four-fifths  vote  to  be  passed  over  the  veto. 
One  would  suppose  that  with  all  the  limitations 
already  described,  the  council  system  would  be 
sufficiently  emasculated  to  suit  its  most  ardent 
opponents.  But  the  modifications  so  far  spoken 
of  apply  only  to  the  transfer  of  powers  from  the 
council  to  other  municipal  bodies.  It  is  one  of  the 
marked  characteristics  of  American  municipal  gov- 
ernment that  local  legislative  powers  are  generally 
exercised  by  the  state  legislature,  so  that  often  only 
the  shadow  of  the  ordinance  power  remains  in  the 
hands  of  any  municipal  authority  whatever.  This 
condition  of  affairs  has  arisen  out  of  two  things  : 
first,  the  American  theory  that  municipal  powers 
must  all  be  enumerated  in  every  charter,  and  sec- 
ond, the  proneness  of  political  parties  to  control 
city  government  through  state  machinery.  These 
things  have  made  our  city  charters  in  many  cases 
as  voluminous  as  a  book  of  ordinances.  The  or- 
ganization of  the  city  government  is  often  fixed  in 
detail,  and  sometimes  even  the  salaries  of  subordi- 
nate administrative  officers  are  fixed  in  the  charter. 
For  example,  of  the  ;^ioo,ooo,(XX)  spent  by  New 
York  City  in  1901  over  two-thirds  "  was  for  manda- 
tory expenditures  as  to  which  the  city  authorities 
could  make  no  change  whatever,"  and  nearly  half 
of  the  remainder  was  practically  mandatory,  so  that 
not  more  than  17  per  cent  of  the  budget  could 
really  be  affected  by  the  local  authorities.^ 

^  John  G.  Agar  in  Municipal  Affairs,  Tune,  1902,  p.  205. 

287 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

The  interference  of  the  state  legislatures  in 
municipal  affairs  will  be  more  fully  discussed  in 
the  next  chapter.  It  remains  to  note  here  a  still 
further  curtailment  of  the  powers  of  the  council 
which  has  made  considerable  headway  in  some 
American  cities,  and  which  is  advocated  by  the 
friends  of  democracy  generally.  I  refer  to  the  in- 
troduction of  the  initiative  and  the  referendum  in 
their  various  forms,  by  means  of  which  the  discre- 
tion of  the  council  in  legislative  matters  is  directly 
subjected  to  the  popular  veto  or  mandate.  This 
limitation  is  of  a  different  kind  from  the  others,  and 
is  calculated  in  a  large  measure  to  supplant  them. 

The  council  system  presents  a  sorry  spectacle 
indeed,  in  American  cities.  Yet  we  must  not  think 
that  the  council  is  everywhere  equally  impotent. 
In  a  good  many  of  the  smaller  cities  it  still  retains 
large  administrative  powers,  and  its  legislative 
powers  are  wide  in  so  great  a  city  as  Chicago. 
It  is  the  tendency  of  recent  charters  to  enlarge  the 
council's  legislative  authority,  and  to  supplement  a 
detailed  by  a  general  grant  covering  all  matters  per- 
taining to  municipal  welfare.  The  new  charter  of 
Portland,  Oregon,  gives  a  good  illustration  of  this 
tendency.  In  the  first  place  it  states  that  "the 
council  shall  have  and  exercise  exclusively  all 
legislative  powers  and  authority  of  the  city  of  Port- 
land, and  no  legislative  powers  or  authority,  either 
express  or  implied,  shall  be  exercised  by  any  other 
person  or  persons,  board  or  boards,  other  than  the 
council."      Then    follows    through    seventy-eight 


OFFICIAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

paragraphs  a  detailed  description  of  specific  powers 
conferred  upon  the  council.  After  that  comes  the 
statement  that  **the  foregoing  or  other  enumera- 
tion of  particular  powers  granted  to  the  council  in 
this  charter  shall  not  be  construed  to  impair  any 
general  grant  of  power  herein  contained  nor  to 
limit  any  such  general  grant  to  powers  of  the  same 
class  or  classes  as  those  so  enumerated."  The 
powers  of  the  St.  Paul  council  are  enumerated  in 
thirty-five  sections,  one  of  which  has  sixty-two  sub- 
divisions. In  the  New  Haven  charter  also  the 
council's  powers  are  described  in  detail ;  but  un- 
luckily the  separate  paragraphs  are  lettered,  so 
that  when  the  charter-makers  got  as  far  as  "  z," 
they  had  to  quit.  We  cannot  be  certain  but  that 
some  essential  local  legislative  powers  have  been 
omitted  because  of  the  failure  of  the  alphabet  to 
furnish  enough  headings.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  the  latest  charter  of  New  York,  the  powers  of 
the  board  of  aldermen  are  not  set  forth  in  great 
detail,  while  one  section  gives  a  general  grant  so 
generous  that  it  is  easy  to  detect  an  earnest  desire 
on  the  part  of  the  charter  revision  commission  to 
rehabilitate  this  body,  which  had  long  been  about 
the  most  insignificant  city  council  in  the  civilized 
world.  *'  No  enumeration  of  powers  in  this  act," 
says  the  charter,  "  shall  be  held  to  limit  the  legis- 
lative power  of  the  board  of  aldermen,  which  in 
addition  to  all  enumerated  powers  may  exercise  all 
of  the  powers  vested  in  the  city  of  New  York  by 
this  act  or  otherwise,  by  proper  ordinance,  rules, 
u  289 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

regulations,  and  by-laws,  not  inconsistent  with  the 
provisions  of  this  act,  or  with  the  constitution  or 
laws  of  the  United  States  or  of  this  state." 

The  typical  form  of  the  council  is  that  of  a  sin- 
gle body  elected  by  districts  and  choosing  its  own 
officers.  True,  in  England  the  councillors  elected 
by  wards  choose  one-third  of  their  number  to  be 
aldermen,  who  are  councillors  of  a  higher  grade, 
though  forming  a  part  of  the  single  responsible 
legislative  body.  In  this  country  we  have  experi- 
mented a  great  deal  with  the  bicameral  system. 
Many  of  our  large  cities,  including  Boston,  Phila- 
delphia, Baltimore,  Pittsburg,  St.  Louis,  and  St.  Paul, 
now  have  councils  composed  of  two  chambers,  the 
upper  house  being  smaller  than  the  lower  and  its 
members  elected  by  different  districts.  The  bicam- 
eral system  has  not,  however,  proved  very  satisfac- 
tory. New  York  and  New  Haven  have  lately  given 
up  the  second  chamber.  The  plan  that  finds  most 
favor  in  recent  legislation  is  to  provide  for  the  elec- 
tion of  a  part  of  the  council  by  general  ticket  and 
the  rest  by  wards.  The  new  Ohio  code  provides 
that  one-fifth  of  the  aldermen  shall  be  elected  at 
large.  The  Portland  charter  makes  one-third  of 
the  councilmen  elected  on  general  ticket.  The 
same  provision  is  found  in  the  charter  for  the  city 
of  Wilmington,  Delaware,  proposed  in  1901.  The 
charter  of  Denver  now  provides  for  the  election  of 
five  supervisors  at  large  and  one  from  each  ward. 
The  new  charter  recently  drafted  for  Denver,  but 
disapproved  by  the  electors,  went  to  the  full  length 

290 


OFFICIAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

of  providing  that  the  whole  city  council  should  be 
chosen  by  general  ticket.  San  Francisco  elects 
its  eighteen  supervisors  in  that  way.  In  both  of 
these  latter  cities  the  council  is  known  as  the  board 
of  supervisors. 

Another  modification  of  the  typical  form  of  the 
council  is  found  in  the  election  of  its  presiding 
officer  by  the  people  at  large  as  a  sort  of  vice-mayor. 
This  is  the  plan  in  New  York,  and  it  is  being  fol- 
lowed to  some  extent  elsewhere.  It  gives  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  dignity  to  the  council  and  provides 
a  popularly  elected  official  to  succeed  to  the  mayor's 
chair  in  case  of  vacancy. 

Generally  councilmen  elected  by  wards  have  to 
be  residents  of  the  wards  they  represent,  but 
New  York  City  has  finally  broken  away  from  this 
thoroughly  American  rule,  and  has  provided  that 
any  citizen  of  the  city  shall  be  eligible  to  represent 
any  aldermanic  district  in  it.  This  condition  is 
sometimes  reversed.  In  San  Jose,  California,  there 
is  a  council  of  five  members  elected  from  separate 
wards  by  vote  of  the  whole  city.  The  same  plan 
was  in  vogue  in  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  until  recently 
and  is  not  uncommon  in  Southern  cities. 

The  National  Municipal  League  in  its  program 
of  municipal  reform  recommends  that  the  city  coun- 
cil be  elected  on  general  ticket  and  be  endowed  with 
practically  complete  powers  of  local  legislation. 
It  is  left  optional  with  cities  of  25,000  population 
to  frame  their  own  charters  and  establish  ward 
representation  if  they  so  desire.     In  view  of  the 

291 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

need  for  local  civic  spirit  in  the  several  sections  of 
a  large  city,  district  representation  becomes  of  great 
importance.  It  seems  desirable  therefore  to  adhere 
to  the  ward  system,  only  modifying  it  to  the  extent 
of  electing  the  president  and,  say,  one-third  of  the 
councilmen  on  general  ticket.  This  would  approx- 
imate as  near  to  the  English  plan  as  American 
traditions  will  permit,  the  councilmen  at  large 
corresponding  to  the  English  aldermen  and  consti- 
tuting as  it  were  an  honorary  class  in  the  council 
for  the  purpose  of  intelligent  leadership. 

Leaving  the  council  system  as  the  norm  of  mu- 
nicipal organization,  there  is  only  one  other  scheme 
to  be  found  in  American  cities  which  deserves  to 
be  called  a  system.  This  is  the  so-called  "  federal 
plan,"  which  is  best  illustrated  in  the  city  govern- 
ment of  Cleveland  as  it  was  from  1891  to  1903. 
The  federal  plan,  as  its  name  indicates,  is  a  more 
or  less  exact  copy  of  the  general  principles  of 
organization  found  in  our  national  government. 
These  principles  are  three  :  first,  a  clear  separation 
of  executive  and  legislative  powers ;  second,  a  con- 
centration of  executive  responsibility  in  the  hands 
of  one  man  who  derives  his  power  directly  from 
the  people ;  and  third,  the  provision  of  a  cabinet  or 
group  of  heads  of  administrative  departments  to 
advise  the  chief  executive.  This  may  be  regarded 
as  the  distinct  American  contribution  to  the  theory 
of  municipal  organization,  and,  indeed,  in  theory, 
though  not  historically,  the  federal  plan  may  al- 
most venture  to  dispute  with  the  council   system 

292 


OFFICIAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

the  honor  of  being  regarded  as  the  norm  m  this 
country.  At  any  rate  it  will  be  most  convenient 
for  us  to  consider  it  as  the  new  American  type, 
and  note  the  departures  from  it  in  our  municipal 
practice. 

The  first  important  limitation  upon  the  federal 
plan  to  be  considered  is  the  incomplete  divorce- 
ment of  the  city's  legislature  from  administrative 
functions.  The  council's  power  of  appointment 
or  confirmation  is  almost  everywhere  considerable. 
Even  in  Cleveland  under  the  federal  plan,  as  indeed 
in  the  national  government,  the  appointment  of 
members  of  the  cabinet  by  the  executive  head  was 
subject  to  the  council's  approval.  In  practice, 
however,  this  limitation  upon  the  mayor  amounted 
to  little  more  than  the  similar  limitation  upon  the 
President  does.  The  mayor  was  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  the  one  responsible  head  of  the  whole 
administration. 

A  further  limitation  upon  the  federal  plan  is 
found  in  the  election  of  independent  administrative 
officials  not  responsible  to  the  mayor.  Indeed, 
this  is  such  a  radical  departure  from  the  federal 
system  that  it  clamors  for  recognition  as  a  system 
by  itself.  Students  of  American  administration 
are  well  aware  of  the  radical  difference  in  the 
organization  of  the  national  and  the  state  govern- 
ments. In  the  former  responsibility  is  concentrated. 
In  the  latter  it  is  distributed.  This  latter  system 
has  been  copied  more  or  less  closely  in  many  cities 
and  has  a  tenacious  hold  upon  the  popular  mind  in 

293 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

the  small  places.  Almost  everywhere,  even  in  the 
largest  cities,  several  administrative  officers  are 
elected.  In  Cleveland,  under  the  federal  plan,  the 
only  administrative  officers  besides  the  mayor  who 
were  elected  were  the  treasurer  and  the  prosecuting 
attorney  for  the  police  court,  except  the  director  of 
schools,  whose  department  was  quite  separate  from 
the  city  government  proper.  In  New  York  City 
now  the  comptroller  and  the  borough  presidents 
are  important  administrative  officials  elected  by  the 
people. 

The  art  of  executive  disorganization  has  been 
carried  far  in  many  American  cities.  For  example, 
the  city  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  elects,  besides  the 
mayor,  a  city  treasurer,  a  comptroller,  a  city  attor- 
ney, a  city  marshal,  a  tax  assessor,  and  a  board  of 
public  works  and  affairs  of  three  members.  This 
board  has  the  appointing  power  in  practically  all 
the  departments  of  the  city  outside  of  the  schools, 
even  in  the  police  and  fire  departments,  although 
there  is  a  separate  board  of  police  and  fire  com- 
missioners appointed  by  the  mayor.  The  health 
officer  is  an  exception  to  the  rule,  for  he  is  ap- 
pointed by  the  board  of  health. 

But  the  most  striking  example  of  deliberate  dis- 
sipation of  responsibility  is  found  in  the  new  Ohio 
municipal  code.  The  system  there  provided  is  a 
combination  of  village  methods  and  the  machinery 
worked  out  by  Mr.  Cox  for  the  easy  control  of 
Cincinnati.  In  a  recent  magazine  article  on  public 
school  business  administration  Mr.  C.  B.    Gilbert 

294 


OFFICIAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

says,  "  The  theory  underlying  the  organization  of 
public  business  is  that  it  is  best  to  avoid  the  possi- 
bility of  fixing  responsibility."  1  They  seem  to 
have  followed  this  idea  in  Ohio.  Turning  its  back 
completely  on  the  federal  plan  so  far  as  the  organ- 
ization of  the  executive  was  concerned,  the  Ohio 
legislature  imposed  upon  all  the  cities  of  the  state 
a  system  that  seems  to  have  for  its  object  the  de- 
moralization of  the  executive.  First,  there  is  the 
mayor,  who  has  the  right  to  call  the  directors  of 
departments  together  for  consultation.  He  is 
twice  described  in  the  act  itself  as  *'  the  chief  con- 
servator of  the  peace."  He  has  the  appointment 
of  the  board  of  public  safety  subject  to  confirma- 
tion by  two-thirds  vote  of  the  council.  But  if 
the  council  fails  to  confirm  within  thirty  days,  the 
appointments  are  made  by  the  governor.  The 
mayor  is  a  sort  of  emergency  head  of  the  police 
and  fire  departments,  and  has  the  great  privilege  of 
appointing  policemen  and  firemen  from  a  limited 
list  furnished  him  by  the  board  of  public  safety 
acting  in  the  capacity  of  a  civil  service  commission. 
The  president  of  the  council,  who  is  vice-mayor, 
the  auditor,  the  treasurer,  and  the  solicitor  are 
elected  by  the  people.  So  also  are  the  directors 
of  public  service,  who  constitute  a  board  which  has 
control  of  streets,  sewers,  public  utilities,  parks,  and 
charitable  and  reformatory  institutions.  In  short, 
the  board  of  public  service  is  at  the  head  of  the 
strictly  municipal  administrative  work.     The  mayor 

^  Forufu,  October-December,  1903,  p.  309. 
295 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

appoints  a  board  of  health  subject  to  confirmation 
by  the  council,  and  a  library  commission  without 
such  confirmation. 

This  Ohio  system  is  extreme.  Yet  almost 
everywhere  there  is  some  limitation  upon  the 
mayor's  responsibility  arising  from  the  fact  of  in- 
dependent elective  officials.  Another  limitation 
upon  the  federal  plan  is  the  appointment  of  city 
officials  for  definite  terms  and  the  absence  of  power 
in  the  mayor  to  remove  his  own  appointees  except 
for  judicial  cause.  In  a  few  of  the  new  charters 
the  mayor  is  given  absolute  power  of  removal. 
The  plan  formerly  in  vogue  in  New  York  City  was 
to  allow  the  mayor  to  remove  his  appointees  at  any 
time  within  six  months  after  their  appointment. 
This  is  the  plan  in  Baltimore  now.  The  theory  of 
it  is  that  the  mayor  should  have  the  right  to  make 
his  appointments  on  probation,  but  that  six  months 
of  faithful  service  ought  to  insure  a  definite  term 
of  office  to  his  appointees.  New  York  had  an  ex- 
ceedingly disagreeable  experience  with  this  theory 
while  Mr.  Strong  was  mayor.  Two  of  the  four 
police  commissioners  lost  their  efficiency  after  the 
six  months  had  expired,  and,  as  they  were  stubborn, 
the  department  remained  in  a  deadlock  for  a  long 
time.  Now  the  mayor  of  New  York  has  absolute 
power  of  removal  over  his  appointees. 

The  New  York  deadlock  was,  of  course,  due  as 

much  to  the  bipartisan  organization  of  the  board  as 

to  the  mayor's  inability  to  remove  the  discordant 

commissioners.     The  bipartisan  idea  has  a  strong 

296 


i 


OFFICIAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

hold  upon  municipal  legislation,  there  being  many 
instances  in  widely  different  parts  of  the  country 
where  half  the  members  of  a  municipal  board  are 
required  to  be  taken  from  each  of  the  leading 
political  parties,  or,  more  commonly,  not  more  than 
half  can  be  taken  from  any  one  party.  The 
recently  enacted  charter  of  South  Bend,  Indiana, 
provided  for  a  board  of  public  works  of  three  mem- 
bers to  be  appointed  by  the  mayor,  two  from  his 
own  party,  and  one  from  the  party  casting  the  next 
highest  vote.  The  charter  even  provided  that  of 
the  waterworks  employees  "not  more  than  half, 
as  nearly  as  may  be,  shall  be  appointed  from  one 
political  party,"  and  the  fire  and  police  forces  were 
to  be,  and  remain,  as  nearly  as  possible,  equally 
divided  between  the  two  principal  parties.  San 
Francisco,  which  has  had  three  principal  parties 
of  late  years,  has  provided  in  her  new  charter  that 
of  the  three  members  of  the  board  of  public  works 
and  the  civil  service  commission,  the  mayor  shall 
not  appoint  more  than  one  from  any  one  party. 
The  board  of  education,  the  police  board,  and  the 
fire  board  each  consists  of  four  members  of  whom 
not  more  than  two  can  be  from  one  party.  The 
board  of  health  must  consist  of  five  physician  -? 
members,  two  from  each  of  the  two  principal 
parties,  and  one  from  a  third,  if  possible.  If  there 
is  no  third  party  having  a  physician  in  its  ranks, 
the  mayor  is  permitted  to  use  his  discretion  in 
the  appointment  of  the  fifth  member.  This  partisan 
limitation  upon  the  federal  plan  is  good  evidence  of 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

the  tremendous  hold  of  the  party  system  on  city 
affairs  and  is  at  the  same  time  a  recognition  of  its 
evil  influence. 

The  most  important  modification  of  the  federal 
plan  is  the  merit  system  of  appointment  in  the 
subordinate. administrative  service.  This  limitation 
is  most  important,  not  because  it  is  most  common, 
not  because  it  diminishes  the  mayor's  responsibil- 
ity most,  but  because  it  is  a  constructive  limitation. 
It  limits  and  yet  it  is  inconsistent  with  the  plan 
and  gives  it  strength  and  practicability.  The  two 
objections  that  were  raised  against  the  federal  plan 
as  it  was  operated  in  Cleveland  were,  first,  that  the 
mayor  through  his  right  to  attend  council  meetings 
and  participate  in  debate  was  able  to  exert  undue 
influence  over  the  legislative  department,  and, 
second,  that  on  account  of  his  practically  unlimited 
power  of  appointment  and  removal  he  was  enabled 
to  build  up  a  powerful  machine  for  his  own  politi- 
cal aggrandizement.  The  first  of  these  defects 
could  have  been  cured  by  limiting  the  mayor  to 
written  communications  to  the  council.  The 
second  defect  could  have  been  obviated  by  the 
introduction  of  the  merit  system.  The  theory  of 
this  system  is  that  public  employment  in  all  subor- 
dinate positions  should  be  open  to  all  citizens 
without  regard  to  their  political  or  religious  affilia- 
tions, selections  to  be  made  from  those  showing 
superior  fitness  in  an  open  competitive  examination. 
In  other  words,  the  merit  system  is  directly  opposed 
to  the   idea  that  public  offices  and  employments 

298 


OFFICIAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

may  be  rightly  used  as  rewards  for  party  service. 
Furthermore,  the  merit  system  stands  for  expert 
municipal  service  which  requires  a  relative  per- 
manency in  official  tenures.  For  this  reason  under 
the  merit  system,  as  usually  arranged,  officers  and 
employees  cannot  be  removed  except  for  judicial 
cause,  —  that  is,  for  malfeasance  or  misfeasance 
in  office.  Sometimes,  however,  the  mayor  is  per- 
mitted to  remove  officials  in  the  classified  civil 
service  with  assignment  of  his  reasons  in  writing. 
All  cities  in  New  York  and  Massachusetts  have 
the  merit  system  under  state  law.  Chicago  adopted 
it  by  popular  vote.  San  Francisco,  Los  Angeles, 
Seattle,  Milwaukee,  New  Haven,  New  Orleans,  and 
Portland,  Oregon,  have  the  merit  system  established 
in  various  degrees  of  efficiency  in  their  charters. 
It  is  applied  to  the  police  and  fire  departments  in 
many  other  cities.  The  success  of  the  system 
depends  largely  upon  its  being  administered  by 
its  friends.  But  when  its  friends  are  in  power,  the 
system  is  not  so  much  needed,  and  sometimes 
even  gets  in  the  way  of  desirable  reorganization. 
The  merit  system  has  three  practical  purposes  in 
view.  These  are,  first,  to  prevent  spoils  politicians 
from  filling  the  offices  with  incompetent  party 
workers  ;  second,  to  provide  a  simple  and  just  way 
of  selecting  fit  persons  for  official  employment, 
thus  relieving  the  mayor  or  other  appointing 
authority  of  the  irksome  and  unprofitable  task  of 
passing  upon  all  applicants  by  personal  examina- 
tion  or   by   the   consideration   of   the  applicants' 

299 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

recommendations  ;  and,  third,  to  give  all  applicants 
for  appointment  an  equal  chance  in  accordance 
with  their  ability.  A  spoilsman  mayor  has  no  use 
for  the  second  function  of  the  merit  system  and 
evades  the  first  if  possible.  An  efficient  nonpar- 
tisan mayor  has  no  need  of  the  first  but  finds  the 
second  a  great  help,  unless  the  red  tape  of  the  civil 
service  examination  happens  in  some  unusual  in- 
stance to  bar  out  a  candidate  known  to  possess 
exceptional  qualifications  for  some  particular  posi- 
tion. Too,  if  the  law  is  dishonestly  administered 
by  its  enemies,  when  its  friends  get  into  power, 
they  may  find  the  pay-rolls  loaded  with  a  lot  of 
half-competent  employees  whose  tenure  of  office  is 
protected  by  the  law  so  that  they  cannot  be  re- 
moved to  make  way  for  more  efficient  persons. 
In  New  York  City,  particularly,  these  difficulties 
have  been  encountered. 

Nevertheless,  after  all  has  been  said  that  can  be 
said  against  the  merit  system,  we  find  the  substance 
and  principle  of  it  untouched.  This  system  is 
democratic,  for  it  gives  every  citizen  an  equal  op- 
portunity to  participate  in  the  public  service  accord- 
ing to  his  fitness.  It  is  economical,  because  it 
brings  into  office  competent  persons  who  work  for 
their  wages  and  are  not  required  to  spend  half  of 
the  city's  time  "  hustling  "  for  votes  or  organizing 
political  clubs.  It  is  scientific,  because  through 
permanence  of  official  tenure  it  develops  speciahsts 
in  every  department  of  city  administration.  It  is 
now  well  recognized  that  the  merit  system,  or  at 
300 


OFFICIAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

any  rate  the  application  of  its  principles,  is  a  neces- 
sary condition  of  general  success  in  the  municipal 
operation  of  public  utilities,  and  everywhere  civil 
service  reform  is  a  twin  plank  in  a  municipal 
ownership  platform.  All  except  partisan  politi- 
cians favor  it,  some  because  they  want  our  present 
municipal  undertakings  well  handled,  others  be- 
cause they  want  the  city  to  become  capable  of  the 
safe  expansion  of  municipal  functions. 

One  of  the  most  important  features  of  the  federal 
plan  is  the  mayor's  cabinet.  This  feature  is  radi- 
cally important  because  it  gives  intelligent  unity 
to  a  city  administration.  The  greatest  need  of  our 
city  government  to-day  is  foresight  and  coordina- 
tion. The  mayor's  cabinet  in  Cleveland  was  a  com- 
pact body  composed  of  the  heads  of  the  six  munici- 
pal departments,  who,  with  the  mayor,  formed  the 
Board  of  Control.  This  board  was  required  to 
meet  at  least  twice  a  week  and  keep  a  formal 
record  of  its  proceedings.  It  came  nearer  the 
"  magistracy  "  or  administrative  board  of  a  German 
city  than  anything  else  I  know  of  in  American  city 
government.  A  few  years  ago  Mayor  Quincy,  of 
Boston,  organized  a  sort  of  extra-legal  cabinet  for 
advisory  purposes.  This  was  a  committee  of  lead- 
ing business  men  with  whom  the  mayor  consulted 
frequently.^  The  cabinet  idea  has  taken  consider- 
able hold  upon  municipal  law  already.  The  boards 
of  estimate  already  described  are  in  a  measure 
akin  to  the  mayor's  cabinet. 

1  See  Municipal  Affairs,  September,  1897,  PP*  491-508. 
301 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

St.  Paul  now  has  a  "  conference  committee " 
composed  of  thirteen  officials,  including  the  presi- 
dent of  the  upper  house  of  the  council  and  the 
chairman  of  the  ways  and  means  committee  of  the 
lower  house.  Certain  county  officials  are  invited  to 
attend  the  meetings  of  the  conference  committee 
and  take  part  in  its  deliberations,  but  without  a 
vote.  The  committee  must  meet  at  least  once  a 
month.  The  charter  requires  that  at  these  monthly 
meetings  eleven  different  officials  shall  present 
written  reports  of  the  affairs  of  their  departments 
covering  the  points  described  in  the  charter  itself. 
Absence  from  two  successive  sessions  of  the  com- 
mittee, or  failure  to  make  a  required  report,  operates 
to  put  any  member  out  of  office  and  disquaHfy 
him  for  holding  any  city  office  for  a  year.  The 
committee  has  no  authority  to  excuse  any  mem- 
bers from  making  the  required  report.  If  at  any 
time  the  committee  thinks  a  department  is  being 
conducted  in  such  a  manner  that  it  will  be  impos- 
sible for  it  to  keep  within  its  appropriation  during 
the  year,  the  committee  may  so  advise  the  officer 
or  board  in  charge,  and  thereafter  no  further  obli- 
gations or  expenses  can  be  incurred  except  after 
the  approval  of  four-fifths  of  the  committee  by 
formal  resolution.  The  committee  is  also  authorized 
to  give  advice  to  any  department.  In  this  confer- 
ence committee  are  the  mayor  and  eight  of  the 
mayor's  appointees,  but  most  of  the  latter  hold 
office  for  several  years  and,  once  appointed,  are  not 
absolutely  responsible  to  the  mayor. 
302 


OFFICIAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

Another  interesting  experiment  in  cabinet  gov- 
ernment is  being  worked  out  in  Portland,  Oregon, 
where  the  new  charter  provides  for  an  executive 
board  of  ten  members  besides  the  mayor.  The 
members  are  appointed  by  the  mayor  and  may  be 
removed  by  him  at  any  time.  The  board  has 
charge  of  the  fire  and  police  departments,  the 
street  and  Hghting  departments,  the  harbor  and 
the  pound.  This  leaves  the  waterworks,  the 
health  department,  the  parks,  etc.,  under  the  con- 
trol of  separate  boards  or  officers  not  responsible  to 
the  executive  board. 

The  final  limitation  upon  the  federal  plan  arises 
from  the  same  source  as  the  similar  limitation 
upon  the  council  system,  —  that  is,  from  state  inter- 
ference. If  the  legislature  chooses  to  arrogate  to 
itself  the  functions  of  the  city  council,  it  also  fre- 
quently confers  upon  the  governor  part  of  the 
mayor's  powers.  In  various  cities  of  the  United 
States  there  are  police  boards,  boards  of  health, 
and  other  municipal  bodies  appointed  by  the  cen- 
tral state  authority.  The  Baltimore  poUce  board 
is  elected  by  the  general  assembly  of  the  state. 
Denver  has  a  board  of  public  works  and  a  board 
of  fire  and  police  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
governor.  Boston,  New  York,  Cincinnati,  Toledo, 
Detroit,  St.  Louis,  New  Orleans,  San  Francisco, 
and  other  cities  now  have  or  at  some  past  time 
have  had  one  or  more  boards  named  by  the  state. 
This  is  a  considerable  limitation  upon  the  federal 
plan,  greatly  decreasing  the  authority  and  power 
303 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

of  the  mayor,  especially  in  Ohio  cities,  where  the 
mayor  is  only  the  "  chief  conservator  of  the  peace  " 
anyway. 

I  have  briefly  explained  the  two  typical  systems 
of  municipal  organization  and  the  ways  in  which 
they  have  been  modified  in  American  cities.  The 
results  show  such  absolute  confusion  that  it  is 
practically  impossible  to  construct  a  form  of  mu- 
nicipal government  proven  to  be  good  by  experi- 
ence under  American  conditions. 

The  whole  theory  of  modern  freedom  holds  that 
in  the  long  run,  through  blunders,  heedlessness, 
and  wrong-doing,  the  people  themselves  will  work 
out  for  themselves  the  government  best  suited  to 
their  needs.  It  is  too  late  in  the  history  of  the 
world  to  take  a  step  backwards  and  rely  on  aris- 
tocracy or  monarchy.  We  must,  therefore,  organ- 
ize our  city  governments  on  the  basis  of  democracy 
and  with  an  eye  to  the  gradual  strengthening  and 
perfection  of  democratic  ideals.  In  doing  this  we 
must,  of  course,  work  along  the  lines  of  least  re- 
sistance. For  us  this  seems  to  be  the  federal  plan. 
Coupled  with  municipal  home  rule,  the  merit 
system,  and  optional  direct  legislation,  this  plan 
offers  a  reasonable  hope  of  bringing  efficient  gov- 
ernment. With  a  careful  separation  of  powers, 
the  legislative  function  can  be  intrusted  to  typical, 
everyday  Americans  from  middle  life  who  yet 
have  broad  enough  training  to  enable  them  to  see 
the  interests  of  the  city  as  a  whole.  In  most  cities 
strictly  legislative  duties  would  not  seriously  inter- 
304 


I 


OFFICIAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

fere  with  a  man's  regular  business,  and  therefore 
the  councilmen  need  not  either  be  rich  or  receive 
high  salaries  from  the  city.  The  danger  of  such 
men  falling  a  prey  to  greed  would  be  largely  obviated 
by  popular  control  through  the  initiative  and  the 
referendum.  The  mayor  elected  by  the  people 
and  given  practically  full  power  over  all  branches 
of  the  administration,  with  a  provision  for  his  con- 
sulting with  the  heads  of  departments  before  tak- 
ing action,  could  give  a  brilliant  administration  if 
he  is  a  strong  leader,  and  a  safe  administration 
if  he  is  honest  but  timid  or  hesitating.  If  the 
mayor  is  a  bad  man,  we  must  depend  upon  the 
merit  system,  the  pressure  of  public  opinion,  and 
perhaps  the  right  of  recall  to  compel  him  to  per- 
form his  duty  passably.  As  I  have  said  before, 
concentration  of  responsibility  is  not  to  be  sought 
for  its  own  sake.  --What  we  want  is  fixed  respon- 
sibility. The  simplest  way  to  fix  it  is  to  load  it  all 
on  one  man.  But  one  of  the  negative  lessons  from 
American  experience  is  that  loading  responsibility 
all  on  one  man  is  a  failure  unless  you  have  a  very 
exceptional  man.  The  common  method  of  distrib- 
uting responsibility  among  many  elected  officials 
is  a  worse  failure,  because  the  necessary  unity  in 
municipal  administration  is  lost,  and,  under  the 
conditions  of  party  government,  officials  are  not 
held  closely  to  individual  responsibility  for  the 
conduct  of  their  offices.  They  are  all  bunched  to- 
gether on  the  party  ticket.  Furthermore,  even 
with  free  nominations  and  nonpartisan  elections, 
X  305 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

careful  discrimination  by  the  voters  in  choosing 
from  a  dozen  to  a  hundred  officials  is  impossible. 
This  is  especially  true  in  large  cities,  where  most 
fellow-citizens  are  strangers  to  each  other.  The 
best  way  out  of  the  difficulty  seems  to  be  by  the 
concentration  of  ultimate  responsibility  for  all 
branches  of  the  administration  upon  one  man,  with 
the  requirement  that  he  shall  ask,  even  if  he  does 
not  follow,  the  advice  of  a  group  of  men,  either 
the  officials  appointed  by  himself,  or  a  separate 
body  chosen  by  the  people  or  by  the  council.  The 
federal  plan  contemplates  that  the  mayor's  advis- 
ers are  to  be  the  heads  of  departments  appointed 
by  himself.  In  some  of  the  cases  I  have  cited 
consultation  is  had  with  a  group  of  officials,  partly 
elected  and  partly  appointed ;  but  in  these  cases 
there  is  usually  more  or  less  division  of  responsi- 
bility without  adequate  provision  for  its  correlation. 
In  St.  Paul  the  conference  committee  has  adequate 
authority  to  compel  the  various  departments  and 
officials  to  keep  within  their  appropriations.  The 
committee's  control  amounts  to  a  limitation  upon 
the  amount  of  money  to  be  expended. 

But  whether  responsibility  is  concentrated  in  the 
hands  of  the  mayor  or  carefully  distributed  among 
elected  or  appointed  officials  with  definite  terms  of 
office,  the  absolutely  essential  thing  is  that  the 
heads  of  departments  should  be  compelled  to  meet 
together  frequently  and  report  to  each  other  the 
policies  and  conditions  of  their  respective  depart- 
ments, and  consult  with  each  other  as  to  the  means 
306 


OFFICIAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

to  be  employed  to  insure  harmonious,  efficient,  and 
economical  government. 

The  scheme  of  organization  recommended  by 
the  National  Municipal  League,  after  years  of 
widely  extended  observation  and  deep  study,  is, 
perhaps,  the  safest  comprehensive  plan  yet  devised 
for  municipal  organization  in  this  country.  This 
plan  includes  the  separation  of  legislative  from 
administrative  functions.  It  makes  the  council  the 
sole  legislative  body  of  the  city,  subject  to  popular 
control  through  direct  legislation  if  the  people  so 
desire.  It  makes  the  mayor  and  the  councilmen 
the  only  elective  officials.  It  provides  that  nomi- 
nations shall  be  by  petition,  and  that  the  ballot 
shall  not  contain  party  designations.  It  gives  the 
council  authority  to  appoint  the  controller,  who  is 
to  be  the  chief  financial  officer  of  the  city.  It 
gives  the  mayor  the  authority  to  appoint  and  re- 
move at  pleasure  all  other  department  heads.  It 
makes  the  tenure  of  all  appointed  officers  indefinite, 
with  the  hope  that  this  will  encourage  permanency 
during  good  behavior.  It  establishes  the  merit 
system  of  appointment  in  the  subordinate  adminis- 
trative service.  No  definite  provision  is  made  for 
a  cabinet  or  consulting  group  of  department  heads, 
and  this  is  probably  the  most  serious  omission  in 
the  general  plan. 

The  organization  of  city  government  is  funda- 
mentally important.  It  is  the  construction  of  the 
machinery  by  which  many  of  the  most  sacred 
interests  of  citizenship  are  cared  for.     Something 

307 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

more  than  the  nice  adjustment  of  official  duties  is 
required.  There  must  be  adequate  provision  for 
intelligent  response  on  the  part  of  officials  to  the 
people  whose  servants  they  are.  Municipal  reports 
are  of  much  greater  importance  than  is  ordinarily 
conceived.  Boston  has  an  efficient  bureau  of 
municipal  statistics  under  the  skilled  direction  of 
Dr.  Edward  M.  Hartwell.  Chicago  also  has  a 
statistical  bureau.  New  York  started  one  under 
Mayor  Van  Wyck's  administration,  but  it  was 
found  that  Tammany  figures  were  hardly  worth 
publishing,  and  the  bureau  was  discontinued. 

The  whole  subject  of  municipal  book-keeping 
and  accounting  is  one  of  great  interest.  Care 
should  be  had  not  to  confound  the  principles  of 
private  with  those  of  public  book-keeping.  Private 
books  are  often  kept  for  the  purpose  of  concealing 
facts  from  all  those  who  are  not  in  the  secrets  of 
the  business.  This,  so  to  speak,  esoteric  book- 
keeping has  no  place  in  public  offices.  Even 
where  private  accounts  are  not  arranged  to  deceive 
the  unwary,  they  are  almost  never  arranged  with 
the  idea  of  showing  at  a  glance  to  strangers  the 
condition  of  the  business.  But  public  accounts 
must  be  simple,  clear,  and  graphic,  so  that  any 
citizen  can  easily  understand  them. 

Students  of  American  municipal  statistics  have 
found  the  reports  of  different  cities  so  confused 
and  uncertain  as  to  afford  no  basis  for  trustworthy 
comparisons  of  the  cost  and  efficiency  of  the  sev- 
eral departments  of  city  government  in  different 
308 


OFFICIAL   RESPOxNSIBILITY 

places.  Out  of  this  difficulty  has  grown  a  strong 
movement  in  favor  of  uniform  municipal  statistics.^ 
Primarily  the  demand  for  uniformity  is  based  on 
the  desire  to  compare  the  experiences  6f  different 
cities.  This  is,  of  course,  a  laudable  desire,  and 
the  ability  to  satisfy  it  with  reasonable  accuracy 
would  undoubtedly  throw  light  on  many  dark  prob- 
lems and  facilitate  reforms.  Cities  ar6  prone  to 
seek  to  learn  from  each  other  in  order  to  avoid 
mistakes,  and  to  imitate  successes.  This  is  a  nat- 
ural tendency,  and,  if  made  to  supplement  honest 
effort  at  home  rather  than  to  substitute  for  it,  the 
study  of  other  cities'  experience  will  always  be 
helpful.  So  long,  however,  as  reports  are  vague, 
misleading,  and  incomplete,  one  city  cannot  tell 
whether  it  is  copying  the  mistakes  or  the  successes 
of  another. 

Another  reason  for  uniformity  within  the  limits 
of  any  one  commonwealth  is  to  secure  a  basis  for 
central  administrative  control.  Thus  in  Wyoming 
there  has  long  been  a  state  examiner  of  accounts 

^  The  National  Municipal  League,  in  1901,  appointed  a  special 
committee  to  investigate  this  subject  and  report  a  plan  of  uniform 
accounting.  The  reports  of  this  committee,  of  which  Dr.  Edward 
M.  Hartwell  of  Boston  is  chairman,  and  many  other  valuable  arti- 
cles on  this  subject  are  to  be  found  in  the  published  proceedings 
of  the  last  three  Conferences  for  Good  City  Government.  See 
Rochester  Conference,  1901,  pp.  248-314  ;  Boston  Conference,  1902, 
pp.  292-329  ;  and  Detroit  Conference,  1903,  pp.  247-297.  The 
schedules  adopted  by  the  League  have  formed  the  basis  of  uniform 
accounting  in  Ohio,  and  have  been  put  into  use  with  more  or  less 
modification  in  Boston,  Cambridge,  Baltimore,  and  other  cities. 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

with  authority  to  prescribe  forms  for  all  local  gov- 
ernmental bodies.  In  Ohio,  also,  in  1902,  a  law  was 
passed  giving  the  state  auditor  similar  authority. 

The  greatest  advantage  to  be  secured  from  uni- 
formity, however,  is  an  incidental  one.  A  uniform 
method  must  in  the  nature  of  the  case  be  simple 
and  intelligible  in  its  results.  What  is  most  needed 
is  that  the  people  of  a  city  should  have  presented 
to  them  a  report  of  their  own  city  finances  that 
they  can  understand.  As  a  rule,  the  taxpayer 
puts  his  contribution  into  the  hopper,  and  there 
is  ground  out  for  him  a  confused  mixture  of  bene- 
fits and  annoyances  which  are  reported  to  him 
inaccurately  and  in  piecemeal  by  the  newspapers. 
Probably  not  one  in  a  hundred  of  the  taxpayers, 
certainly  not  of  the  voters,  can  give  with  close 
approximation  the  proportions  of  his  tax  that  are 
devoted  to  the  several  functions  of  local  govern- 
ment. Very  much  more  should  be  made  of  mu- 
nicipal reports  than  at  present.  To  be  sure,  almost 
every  large  city  publishes  an  elaborate  volume  every 
year  for  distribution  among  the  city  officials  and  for 
exchange  with  other  cities.  But  these  volumes  are, 
as  a  rule,  both  comparatively  uninteresting  and  com- 
paratively unintelligible.  At  any  rate,  citizens  hardly 
ever  see  them.  The  manual  of  the  council  often 
contains  in  useful  form  considerable  information,  but 
this,  too,  is  not  widely  distributed.  In  order  to  be 
really  responsible  to  the  citizens  a  city  government 
should  annually  put  into  the  hands  of  every  elector 
a  comprehensive  but  popular  report  of  the  work 
310 


OFFICIAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

of  the  city  and  a  sketch  of  the  municipal  organiza- 
tion. If  well  prepared  and  universally  distributed, 
such  a  document  would  do  more  for  the  education 
of  citizenship  than  the  whole  year's  daily  papers 
and  two  or  three  political  campaigns  combined. 
Such  city  reports  as  we  now  have  in  the  great 
majority  of  cases  are  totally  unsuited  to  this  popu- 
lar use.  It  would  require  a  bureau  with  a  trained 
man  at  its  head  to  prepare  such  a  report  as  is 
needed.  The  cost  of  supplying  every  citizen 
would  be  considerable,  but  in  the  long  run  it 
would  be  saved  in  the  greater  economy  and  effi- 
ciency of  the  government  which  would  follow 
from  the  active  and  intelligent  public  interest  of 
the  citizens.  The  greatest  danger  arising  from 
the  adoption  of  this  policy  would  be  that  each 
administration  might  attempt  to  exploit  its  own 
merits  in  the  annual  report  without  regard  to 
facts.  In  order  to  insure  fairness  and  precision 
the  publication  would  have  to  be  controlled  by 
an  advisory  committee  independent  of  the  officials 
directly  interested. 

New  York  City  publishes  a  daily  City  Record^ 
but  it  is  altogether  too  bulky  and  too  technical  to 
be  available  for  general  use.  The  statistical  bulle- 
tins issued  by  Boston  and  Chicago  every  month  or 
two  are  much  more  popular  and  useful  for  ordinary 
citizens.  But  what  is  needed  is  an  annual  report 
that  shall  be  a  handbook  of  the  city  government, 
which  the  average  citizen  would  keep  for  reference 
and  in  which  he  could  find  out  anything  he  needs 
3" 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

to  know  about  the  workings  of  the  government, 
or  at  least  get  directions  as  to  where  it  could  be 
found  out. 

Popular  government  in  cities  is  a  complex  prob- 
lem. In  order  to  succeed  we  must  put  responsi- 
bility where  we  can  find  it  when  we  look  for  it, 
and  then  not  forget  to  look  for  it. 


312 


CHAPTER  XI 

LOCAL  RESPONSIBILITY,  OR  MUNICIPAL  HOME  RULE 

Home  rule  as  applied  to  cities  is  a  rather  vague 
term.  It  needs  to  be  crystallized  into  a  program. 
It  may  include  three  tolerably  distinct  rights.  One 
is  the  right  of  the  municipality  to  choose  from 
among  its  own  citizens  the  officers  who  are  to  ad- 
minister the  law  in  the  locality.  The  local  choice 
of  officers  who  act  locally  is  the  most  usual  form 
of  local  self-government  that  we  have  in  America. 
This  principle  is  applied  everywhere,  with  now 
and  then  a  glaring  exception.  The  second  right 
of  home  rule  is  the  right  of  the  locality,  usually  a 
city,  to  determine  its  own  form  of  organization  for 
governmental  purposes.  This  right  is  not  gener- 
ally recognized.  Formerly  New  York  City  had  a 
charter  convention  from  time  to  time  to  frame  a 
new  charter,  but  this  custom  fell  into  disuse  more 
than  fifty  years  ago.  To-day  certain  cities  have 
the  right  to  frame  their  own  charters  within  certain 
limitations  in  several  of  the  states,  and  the  National 
Municipal  League  has  included  this  right  of  home 
rule  in  its  "  Program,"  limiting  its  application, 
however,  to  cities  with  a  population  of  25,000  or 
more.  The  third  right  that  may  be  included  under 
home  rule  or  local  self-government  is  the  right 
3^3 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

locally  to  determine  the  scope  of  the  local  govern- 
ment. This  right  is  of  vital  importance.  It  in- 
cludes the  right  to  expand  municipal  functions  or 
contract  them  according  to  the  political  judgment 
of  the  locality.  This  is  the  kernel  of  home  rule  so 
far  as  home  rule  represents  a  change  from  our 
prevalent  political  habits.  With  this  right  granted 
every  city  would  be  enabled  to  determine  for  itself 
whether  or  not  it  will  own  and  operate  public  utili- 
ties, and  whether  or  not  it  will  establish  baths, 
gymnasiums,  parks,  playgrounds,  etc.  It  is  in 
this  right  that  the  possibility  of  separating  local 
from  national  and  state  politics  rests.  It  is  in  this 
right  that  the  hope  of  democracy  lies  through  the 
cultivation  of  civic  spirit  and  the  promotion  of  civic 
education.  Another  right  of  a  somewhat  different 
nature  from  these,  and  yet  fundamentally  impor- 
tant, is  the  right  to  levy  taxes  and  incur  debt  with- 
out limitation  by  the  state.  This  right  is  not 
generally  recognized.  Its  full  guarantee  would 
imperil  the  sovereignty  of  the  state,  but  its  undue 
limitation  makes  all  other  forms  of  home  rule 
largely  futile. 

According  to  the  general  theory  of  American 
law,  a  municipal  corporation  is  the  creature  of  the 
state  legislature,  and  possesses  only  such  powers 
as  are  expressly  enumerated  or  clearly  implied  in 
the  city  charter.  Upon  this  theory,  whenever  con- 
stitutional provisions  guaranteeing  municipal  home 
rule  have  been  lacking,  the  cities  of  the  United 
States  have  been  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
3H 


LOCAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

state  legislatures.  In  Michigan,  however,  this 
doctrine  of  the  unlimited  authority  of  the  legisla- 
ture over  the  city  has  been  modified  by  the  doctrine 
of  local  self-government,  as  enforced  by  the  supreme 
court.  The  Michigan  court  has  held,  in  effect,  that 
back  of  the  written  constitution  of  1850  lies  a  gen- 
eral scheme  of  local  self-government,  which  is 
presupposed  by  the  constitution,  and  cannot  be 
abrogated  by  the  state  legislature.^ 

The  court  has  "  fully  recognized  that  the  legis- 
lature may  grant,  withhold,  or  take  away  the  cor- 
porate powers  of  cities,  but  it  cannot  take  away 
from  the  people  of  any  locality  the  fundamental 
right  of  managing  their  own  affairs.  That  is,  the 
essentials  of  county  and  township  government  are 
guaranteed  absolutely  to  all  the  people,  and  if 
further  privileges  are  given  to  cities,  they  can  be 
exercised  only  by  local  officers.  There  are  certain 
general  functions,  such  as  the  police  power,  which 
may  be  exercised  in  a  supplementary  way  by  state 
officials,  but  not  to  the  displacement  of  ordinary 
local  officers.  And,  further,  the  legislature  cannot 
radically  change  the  existing  forms  of  municipal 
government,  as,  for  instance,  by  depriving  the  city 
council  of  its  essential  position  as  the  municipal 
legislative  power."  ^ 

With  the  growth  of  the  political  importance  of 
cities,  state  legislatures  have  developed  great 
interest  in  the  internal  affairs  of  municipal  cor- 

^  See  the  author's  Municipal  Government  in  Michigan  and 
Ohioy  pp.  35-50.  2  Ibid.,  p.  30. 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

porations.  It  often  happens  that  the  political 
complexion  of  a  city  government  differs  from  that 
of  the  state  government.  In  such  cases,  the  spoils 
of  municipal  offices  tempt  the  legislature  to  interfere 
with  municipal  affairs  and  oftentimes  to  reorgan- 
ize the  whole  scheme  of  municipal  government. 
The  excuse  for  such  interference,  where  partisan- 
ship is  not  frankly  avowed,  is,  usually,  that  the 
city  authorities  are  delinquent  in  the  enforcement 
of  state  laws.  Between  partisanship  on  the  one 
hand,  and  municipal  delinquency  on  the  other,  state 
interference  has  developed  large  proportions  in 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Massachusetts, 
Missouri,  and  some  other  states.  This  applies  prin- 
cipally to  the  great  cities. 

Another  side  of  the  evil  is  that,  apart  from 
political  interference,  a  great  mass  of  local  and 
special  legislation  has  grown  up  in  many  of  the 
states,  by  which  responsibility  for  local  affairs  has 
been  confused,  and  the  statute-book  loaded  with 
conflicting  and  piecemeal  charter  provisions,  leav- 
ing the  authorities  of  the  cities  greatly  hampered 
in  any  intelligent  effort  to  govern  their  municipali- 
ties well.  This  sort  of  legislation  is  usually  passed 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  members  from  the 
localities  affected  and  without  any  consideration  of 
its  merits  by  the  legislature  as  a  body.  In  this 
way  the  member  or  members  of  the  legislature, 
elected  by  the  particular  city,  along  political  lines, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  taking  part  in  the  general 
legislation  of  the  state,  come  to  be  in  reality  a 
316 


LOCAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

supreme  local  legislative  body,  responsible  only 
indirectly  to  their  constituents  for  their  acts.  Any 
one  having  a  pet  measure,  affecting  the  city,  has 
only  to  persuade  the  members  of  the  legislature 
from  his  locality  to  introduce  it  and  vouch  for  it,  and 
it  will  become  a  law,  no  matter  how  the  people  of 
the  city  may  stand  upon  the  question  at  issue. 

This  condition  of  confused  responsibility,  imper- 
fect publicity,  and  domination  by  private  interests 
has  led  to  incalculable  evils  in  municipal  govern- 
ment in  most  of  the  states  of  the  Union. 

The  evils  of  special  and  local  legislation  had 
become  so  apparent  fifty  years  ago,  that  the  people 
of  Ohio,  in  the  constitution  of  185 1,  prohibited  all 
special  legislation  for  cities. 

In  the  same  year  Indiana  followed  suit.  Since 
then,  half  or  more  of  the  states  have  made  similar 
attempts.  These  constitutional  provisions  have 
taken  various  forms,  but  have  been  only  moderately 
successful  in  accomplishing  their  ends.  The  new 
constitution  of  Alabama,  adopted  in  1901,  forbids 
the  legislature  to  pass  any  special  act,  (i)  incorpo- 
rating a  city,  town,  or  village ;  (2)  authorizing  any 
city,  town,  or  village  to  issue  bonds  except  where 
the  issue  has  been  approved  by  the  people  of  the 
locality,  and  excepting  refunding  bonds  ;  (3)  amend- 
ing, confirming,  or  extending  the  charter  of  any 
municipal  corporation,  provided  that  the  legislature 
may  rearrange  city  boundaries. 

The  history  of  constitutional  provisions,  prohibit- 
ing special  legislation,  is  interesting  and  instructive, 

317 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

though  not  particularly  encouraging.  The  experi- 
ence of  Ohio  is  perhaps  more  striking  than  that  of 
any  other  state.  After  the  constitution  of  185 1 
was  adopted,  the  legislature  passed  a  general 
incorporation  act  for  cities.  It  soon  became  appar- 
ent, however,  to  the  statesmen  of  Ohio,  that  a 
general  charter  of  enumerated  powers  could  not  be 
easily  adapted  to  the  needs  of  cities  of  different 
sizes  and  having  different  physical  environments. 
Consequently  it  was  not  long  before  the  legislature 
classified  cities  according  to  population,  the  first 
class  being  composed  of  all  cities  having  a  popula- 
tion of  20,000  or  more.  At  that  time  Cincinnati 
was  the  only  city  of  the  first  class.  It  is  needless 
to  go  into  the  detailed  history  of  classification  in 
Ohio.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the  supreme  court 
having  assumed  the  right  of  the  legislature  to  clas- 
sify cities  according  to  population,  this  right  came 
to  be  abused  in  the  most  flagrant  manner,  until  the 
letter  and  spirit  of  the  constitution  were  practically 
nullified,  and  for  many  years  special  legislation  for 
cities  was  rampant  in  Ohio  without  let  or  hindrance. 
The  supreme  court  in  1902  found  the  condition  of 
affairs  so  bad  as  to  warrant  its  reversing  a  long 
line  of  decisions,  and  practically  declaring  the 
whole  municipal  code  of  the  state  null  and  void. 
The  legislature  was  called  in  special  session  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  enacting  a  general  municipal 
code  in  compliance  with  provisions  in  the  constitu- 
tion that  had  been  a  dead  letter  for  nearly  fifty  years. 
The  experience  of  Ohio  shows  two  things  :  — 

318 


LOCAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

First.  There  is  real  difficulty  in  enacting  a  gen- 
eral municipal  law  that  shall  apply  to  cities  of  all 
sizes  and  under  all  conditions,  so  long  as  it  is 
deemed  necessary  to  follow  the  general  practice 
of  American  law,  and  dole  out,  bit  by  bit,  the 
whole  series  of  municipal  powers,  functions,  and 
modes  of  organization. 

Second.  The  spirit  of.  partisanship  is  so  strong 
and  the  habits  of  state  legislatures  are  so  bad,  that 
nothing  but  an  iron-clad  constitution,  rigidly  inter- 
preted by  the  courts,  will  prevent  a  state  legisla- 
ture from  gradually  reasserting  its  authority  over 
the  local  affairs  of  cities,  and  making  municipal 
government  dependent  upon  the  caprice  of  cUques 
and  parties  not  directly  responsible  for  it. 

The  experience  of  Illinois  has  not  been  quite 
the  same  as  that  of  Ohio.  Special  legislation  and 
state  interference  with  local  affairs  had  developed 
to  a  considerable  extent  prior  to  1870,  when  the 
state  constitutional  convention  met.  The  atten- 
tion of  this  convention  was  called  to  the  evils  of 
special  legislation,  and  a. section  was  inserted  pro- 
hibiting the  further  enactment  of  special  city  char- 
ters. Two  years  later,  the  legislature  passed  a 
general  incorporation  act,  which,  with  some  amend- 
ments, has  been  the  basis  of  municipal  government 
in  Illinois  until  the  present  time.  This  act  is  com- 
paratively brief  and  provides  for  the  organization 
and  powers  of  cities  in  general  terms,  so  that  there 
has  been  less  necessity  for  amending  it  than  would 
have  been  the  case  if  it  had  attempted  to  go  into 

319 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

utmost  detail.  Under  it,  accordingly,  the  cities  of 
Illinois  have  an  exceptionally  wide  scope  for  self- 
government.  The  city  of  Chicago  has  not,  how- 
ever, escaped  entirely  from  the  evils  of  state 
interference.  The  legislature  has  been  enabled, 
by  means  of  legislation  applying  to  cities  of  a  cer- 
tain population,  to  control  the  affairs  of  Chicago 
to  some  extent.  Nevertheless,  Chicago  enjoys  an 
enviable  distinction  among  American  cities  in  the 
way  of  opportunity  for  self-government.  Its  prin- 
cipal drawback  is  the  extreme  restriction  put  upon 
its  financial  operations.  Under  the  law,  the  debt 
of  Chicago  is  limited  to  5  per  cent  of  its  taxable 
valuation ;  and  the  tax  laws  recently  enacted  make 
the  valuation  for  taxing  purposes  only  20  per 
cent  of  the  real  valuation,  thus  making  the  actual 
debt  limit  of  Chicago  i  per  cent  of  its  property 
assessment.  This  limits  the  city's  debt,  except  for 
special  purposes,  to  less  than  $20,000,000  or  about 
;^io  per  capita,  which  is  not  one-eighth  of  the 
actual  per  capita  debt  of  New  York  and  Boston. 
The  experience  of  Illinois,  Chicago  in  particular, 
thus  indicates  that  municipal  home  rule  may  be 
rendered  of  Uttle  account  unless  cities  are  granted 
a  large  degree  of  autonomy  in  their  financial  opera- 
tions ;  for  money,  in  municipal  business  as  in  other 
business,  is  the  wherewithal  of  progress. 

In   1873   the  constitution  of    Pennsylvania  also 

prohibited  special  legislation  for  cities,  but,  thanks 

to  a  system  of  classification  which  has  been  upheld 

by  the  supreme  court,  the  city  of  Philadelphia  has 

320 


LOCAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

always  been  in  a  class  by  itself,  subject  to  the  com- 
plete control  of  the  state  legislature.  The  second 
class  of  cities  in  Pennsylvania  includes  three, — 
Pittsburg,  Allegheny,  and  Scranton.  The  con- 
stitutional convention  of  1873,  not  satisfied  with 
prohibiting  special  legislation  for  cities  in  general 
terms,  adopted  this  specific  provision,  that  "the 
general  assembly  shall  not  delegate  to  any  special 
commission,  private  corporation,  or  association,  any 
power  to  make,  supervise,  or  interfere  with  any  mu- 
nicipal improvement,  money,  property,  or  effects, 
whether  held  in  trust  or  otherwise,  to  levy  taxes  or 
perform  any  municipal  function  whatever."  In 
spite  of  these  restrictions,  the  poUtical  machine  of 
Pennsylvania,  which  controls  the  legislature,  has 
found  it  possible  to  interfere  with  the  affairs  of 
cities,  apparently  to  the  extent  of  its  desire.  The 
so-called  "  ripper  "  legislation  recently  passed,  pro- 
viding a  system  of  government  for  cities  of  the 
second  class,  removed  the  mayors  of  Pittsburg, 
Allegheny,  and  Scranton  from  office,  and  provided 
for  city  recorders,  to  be  appointed  by  the  governor, 
to  succeed  them.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the 
governor  made  good  use  of  the  authority  thus 
granted  him  in  behalf  of  the  machine  of  which 
he  was  a  part,  and  the  three  cities  named  were 
put  almost  absolutely  under  the  control  of  the 
state  administration  for  a  period  of  two  years. 

The  experience  of  Pennsylvania  again  demon- 
strates that  constitutional  guarantees  must  be  care- 
fully drawn,  and  loyally  upheld  in  the  courts,  in 
V  321 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

order  to  protect  the  people  in  any  city  from  the 
interference  of  the  state  legislature  for  partisan 
ends. 

Other  states  which  have  constitutional  provisions 
prohibiting  special  legislation  have  had  experiences 
similar,  though  in  most  cases  not  quite  so  outra- 
geous. Even  CaHfornia,  with  its  system  of  home- 
rule  charters,  has  for  purposes  of  general  legislation 
divided  cities  into  seven  classes,  of  which  the  first 
three  contain  only  one  city  each. 

The  state  of  New  York  has  attempted  to  secure 
municipal  home  rule,  not  by  absolutely  prohibiting 
special  legislation,  but  by  giving  the  cities  a  quali- 
fied veto  upon  it.  The  evils  of  state  interference 
for  partisan  purposes  have  undoubtedly  reached 
their  maximum  in  New  York.  The  constitutional 
convention  of  1894  recognized  this  fact,  and,  still 
considering  that  absolute  prohibition  of  special 
legislation  would  be  impracticable,  adopted  the 
following  provisions :  — 

1.  Cities  were  divided  into  three  classes,  accord- 
ing to  population. 

2.  A  special  act  was  defined  as  an  act  applying 
to  any  less  than  all  of  the  cities  of  a  class. 

3.  Every  special  act,  after  passing  the  legisla- 
ture, was  required  to  be  submitted  to  the  municipal 
authorities  of  the  city  or  cities  affected,  who  were 
authorized,  after  giving  a  public  hearing,  to  approve 
or  veto  the  measure.  If  approved,  the  act  would 
become  law  upon  receiving  the  governor's  signa- 
ture;  if  disapproved,  it  would   not   become  law, 

322 


LOCAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

unless  repassed  by  the  legislature  and  signed  by 
the  governor. 

These  provisions  have  resulted  in  considerable 
benefit  from  one  standpoint.  They  have  at  least 
insured  a  certain  degree  of  publicity  of  all  local 
measures  passed  by  the  legislature.  They  have 
not,  however,  succeeded  in  bringing  about  home 
rule,  for  in  the  state  of  New  York  when  any  parti- 
san measure,  affecting  any  of  the  larger  cities  of 
the  state,  has  been  determined  upon  by  the  machine, 
the  veto  of  the  local  authorities  operates  only  to 
delay,  not  to  prevent  its  enactment.  Two  charters 
of  greater  New  York  have  been  passed  since  1894 
over  the  veto  of  the  mayor,  even  though  in  one 
instance  the  mayor  belonged  to  the  same  politi- 
cal party  as  the  majority  of  the  legislature.  To 
be  sure,  he  had  acted  as  an  independent.  Some 
protection  to  local  interests  is  secured,  however, 
by  the  veto  of  special  legislation  passed  near 
the  end  of  the  legislative  session.  Bills  passed 
in  the  last  fifteen  days  before  adjournment,  if  not 
approved  by  the  local  authorities,  cannot  be  re- 
passed ;  consequently,  they  fail. 

Another  method  of  insuring  municipal  home  rule 
was  first  adopted  in  the  Missouri  constitution  of 
1875.  Prior  to  that  time  municipal  conditions  in 
St.  Louis  had  been  very  unsatisfactory,  and  there 
had  been  considerable  interference  on  the  part  of 
the  state  legislature.  The  St.  Louis  delegates  in 
the  constitutional  convention  proposed  a  scheme 
by  which  that  city  was  to  have  the  right  to  frame 
323 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

its  own  charter.     As  finally  adopted,  the  provision 
was  as  follows :  — 

"  Any  city  having  a  population  of  more  than 
100,000  inhabitants  may  frame  a  charter  for  its 
own  government,  consistent  with  and  subject  to 
the  constitution  and  laws  of  this  state,  by  causing 
a  board  of  thirteen  freeholders,  who  shall  have 
been  for  at  least  five  years  qualified  voters  thereof, 
to  be  elected  by  the  qualified  voters  of  such  city  at 
any  general  or  special  election ;  which  board  shall, 
within  ninety  days  after  such  election,  return  to 
the  chief  magistrate  of  such  city  a  draft  of  such 
charter,  signed  by  the  members  of  such  board,  or 
a  majority  of  them.  Within  thirty  days  thereafter, 
such  proposed  charter  shall  be  submitted  to  the 
qualified  voters  of  such  city  at  a  general  or  special 
election,  and  if  four-sevenths  of  such  qualified 
voters  voting  thereat  shall  ratify  the  same,  it  shall, 
at  the  end  of  thirty  days  thereafter,  become  the 
charter  of  such  city,  and  supersede  any  existing 
charter  and  amendments  thereto.  A  dupHcate 
certificate  shall  be  made,  setting  forth  the  charter 
proposed  and  its  ratification,  which  shall  be  signed 
by  the  chief  magistrate  of  such  city  and  authenti- 
cated by  its  corporate  seal.  One  of  such  certificates 
shall  be  deposited  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of 
State,  and  the  other,  after  being  recorded  in  the 
office  of  the  Recorder  of  Deeds  for  the  county  in 
which  such  city  lies,  shall  be  deposited  among  the 
archives  of  such  city,  and  all  courts  shall  take  judi- 
cial notice  thereof.  Such  charter,  so  adopted,  may 
324 


LOCAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

be  amended  by  a  proposal  therefor  made  by  the 
lawmaking  authorities  of  such  city,  published  for 
at  least  thirty  days  in  three  newspapers  of  largest 
circulation  in  such  city,  one  of  which  shall  be  a 
newspaper  printed  in  the  German  language,  and 
accepted  by  three-fifths  of  the  quaHfied  voters  of 
such  city,  voting  at  a  general  or  special  election, 
and  not  otherwise ;  but  such  charter  shall  always 
be  in  harmony  with  and  subject  to  the  constitution 
and  laws  of  the  State." 

At  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  constitution, 
and  for  many  years  after,  St.  Louis  was  the  only 
city  in  Missouri  entitled  to  frame  its  own  char- 
ter. Since  then  Kansas  City  and  St.  Joseph  have 
passed  the  hundred-thousand  mark,  and  the  former 
has  framed  a  charter  of  its  own.  In  Missouri,  as 
in  other  states,  there  has  been  a  tendency  on 
the  part  of  the  state  legislature  to  render  nugatory 
constitutional  provisions  granting  municipal  inde- 
pendence in  local  affairs.  Mr.  Charles  Nagel  at- 
tributes the  interference  of  the  state  legislature 
to  partisan  differences,  St.  Louis  being  the  one  Re- 
publican stronghold  in  a  Democratic  state. ^  He 
cites  two  measures  passed  by  the  legislature  in 
1899.  One  was  the  police  law  under  which  a  board 
of  police  commissioners  appointed  by  the  governor, 
the  mayor  being  the  only  locally  chosen  member, 
has  complete  control  of  the  police  department,  even 
to  the  extent  of  making  the  annual  appropriations 
without    having    to    consult    the    city    legislative 

'^Rochester  Conference  for  Good  City  Government,  p.  107. 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

assembly.  The  law  itself  fixes  the  minimum 
number  of  police  officers  and  determines  their 
salaries.  The  other  measure  is  an  election  law 
applying  to  St.  Louis  alone^  "  This  law,"  says 
Mr.  Nagel,  "  comparatively  innocent  upon  a  super- 
ficial reading,  is  probably  as  carefully  designed  a 
measure  for  the  perpetration  and  protection  of  elec- 
tibn  frauds  as  was  ever  enacted.  The  governor 
appoints  the  election  commissioners.  These  in 
turn  elect  the  judges  and  clerks  of  election  for  all 
political  parties.  Most  of  the  registration  of  voters 
is  had  at  one  central  point.  Between  this  law 
and  the  police  law  the  opportunities  are  practically 
unlimited.  How  they  were  availed  of  is  attested 
by  grand  jury  reports,  and  by  the  developments 
in  election  contests.  Even  the  most  unsophisti- 
cated have  been  compelled  to  admit  that  these  two 
laws  are  intended  to  reverse  the  will  of  the  people 
of  St.  Louis."  ^ 

It  becomes  apparent  from  the  experience  of 
St.  Louis,  that  municipal  home  rule  is  not  a  party 
measure,  but  is  everywhere  the  cry  raised  by 
municipalities  whose  interests  have  been  prosti- 
tuted to  the  demands  of  state  partisan  politics. 
Which  party  is  in  control  of  the  state  legislature 
makes  little  difference,  so  long  as  some  partisan  ad- 
vantage can  be  discovered  in  "ripper"  legislation. 

The  Missouri  home-rule  system  gave  such 
promise  of  favorable  results,  that  it  was  copied  in 
1879  with  some  modifications  in  the  constitution  of 

^  Rochester  Conference  for  Good  City  Government,  p.  108, 
326 


LOCAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

California.  California,  however,  having  experi- 
enced the  same  tendency  of  the  state  legislature  to 
get  around  the  constitutional  provisions  and  inter- 
fere with  local  affairs,  has  been  engaged  in  an 
effort  to  improve  its  constitutional  system.  At  the 
present  time  in  California,  any  city  with  a  popula- 
tion of  3500  is  authorized  to  frame  its  own  charter, 
which  becomes  law  after  being  passed  by  the 
legislature  without  amendment.  So  far,  sixteen 
cities  have  availed  themselves  of  this  privilege,  and 
not  one  charter  has  been  rejected  by  the  legisla- 
ture.^ It  is  provided  in  the  constitution  that  a 
charter  framed  by  a  city  "  shall  become  the  organic 
law  thereof  and  supersede  any  existing  charter, 
and  all  amendments  thereof  and  all  special  laws 
inconsistent  with  such  charter."  It  is  further  pro- 
vided that  all  charters  *'  framed  or  adopted  by 
authority  of  this  constitution,  except  in  rmmicipal 
affairs^  shall  be  subject  to  and  controlled  by  gen- 
eral laws."  As  a  result  of  these  various  constitu- 
tional provisions,  some  of  them  only  recently 
adopted,  Californians  think  they  have  secured  a 
reasonably  certain  guarantee  of  municipal  home 
rule  in  strictly  municipal  affairs.  It  is  noteworthy, 
indeed,  that  Governor  Gage,  in  his  message  to  the 
California  legislature  in  1903,  called  attention  to 
the  possibility  of  impairing  the  sovereignty  of  the 
state  by  radical  measures  for  local  autonomy. 

1  These  cities  are  Eureka,  Fresno,  Los  Angeles,  Berkeley,  Napa, 
Oakland,  Pasadena,  Sacramento,  Salinas,  San  Diego,  San  Francisco, 
Santa  Barbara,  Santa  Rosa,  Stockton,  Vallejo,  and  Watsonville. 

327 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

The  city  of  San  Francisco,  after  laboring  for 
many  years  under  the  handicap  of  a  confused 
jumble  of  laws,  called  the  "Consolidation  Act," 
finally  succeeded,  in  1900,  in  adopting  a  freehold- 
ers' charter,  which  is  the  most  radical  charter  of 
any  great  city  in  the  United  States.  Four  times 
charters  framed  by  boards  of  freeholders  in  San 
Francisco  had  been  rejected  by  the  people.  In 
every  case  the  political  spoilsmen  intrenched  in 
the  city  and  county  offices,  growing  fat  upon  irre- 
sponsibility, had  fought  the  charter  tooth  and  nail. 

The  Missouri  and  California  system  was  adopted 
in  the  state  of  Washington  in  1889,  and  all  cities 
with  a  population  of  20,000  in  that  state  have  the 
right  to  frame  their  own  charters.  Seattle  and 
Tacoma  have  taken  advantage  of  this  provision. 

Minnesota  also  has  fallen  into  line  and  adopted 
a  constitutional  amendment  by  which  cities  are 
permitted  to  frame  their  own  charters  within  gen- 
eral limits  prescribed  by  the  legislature.  This 
amendment  was  passed  in  1898,  and  provides  that 
a  board  of  fifteen  freeholders,  who  have  been  for 
five  years  electors  and  residents  of  the  city,  shall 
be  appointed  by  the  district  judges  for  a  term  not 
to  exceed  six  years,  all  vacancies  to  be  filled  by  the 
judges,  and  the  board  to  be  kept  up  permanently. 
This  board  frames  the  charter  and  submits  it  to 
the  people.  It  requires  a  four-sevenths  vote  for 
adoption.  Amendments  petitioned  for  by  5  per 
cent  of  the  voters  must  be  submitted.  These  free- 
holders' charters  are  subject  to  general  laws  of 
328 


LOCAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

uniform  application  to  cities  by  classes.  The  con- 
stitution provides  that  these  classes  shall  be  four 
in  number,  with  population  as  follows  :  first  class, 
50,000  or  more ;  second  class,  20,000  to  50,000 ; 
third  class,  10,000  to  20,000;  fourth  class,  less 
than  10,000.  St.  Paul  and  Duluth,  as  well  as  a 
number  of  small  cities,  have  obtained  home-rule 
charters  under  this  amendment.  The  charter 
framed  by  Minneapolis  in  1898  failed  to  receive 
the  required  number  of  votes. 

In  1902  Colorado  adopted  the  most  radical  home- 
rule  constitutional  provision  to  be  found  anywhere 
in  the  United  States.  By  its  terms  every  city  in 
Colorado  with  a  population  of  more  than  2000 
may  elect  by  general  ticket  a  charter  convention 
composed  of  twenty-one  resident  taxpayers.  This 
convention  must  then  proceed  to  frame  a  charter 
which,  if  approved  by  the  people,  will  go  into 
effect  without  any  action  whatever  by  the  state 
legislature.  The  initiative  and  referendum  on  the 
question  of  a  charter  convention,  on  charter  amend- 
ments, and  on  other  measures,  are  guaranteed  in 
the  constitution,  and  no  charter,  charter  amend- 
ment, or  measure  adopted  or  defeated  under  these 
provisions  can  be  amended,  repealed,  or  revised 
except  by  petition  and  vote  of  the  electors.  Fran- 
chises cannot  be  granted  except  by  vote  of  the 
taxpaying  electors.  By  the  terms  of  the  constitu- 
tion, the  city  "may  purchase,  receive,  hold  and 
enjoy,  or  sell  and  dispose  of  real  and  personal 
property;  may  receive  bequests,  gifts,  and  dona- 
329 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

tions  of  all  kinds  of  property,  in  fee  simple,  or  in 
trust  for  public,  charitable,  or  other  purposes,  and 
do  all  things  and  acts  necessary  to  carry  out  the 
purpose  of  such  gifts,  bequests,  and  donations, 
with  power  to  manage,  sell,  lease,  or  otherwise  dis- 
pose of  the  same  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of 
the  gift,  bequest,  or  trust ;  shall  have  the  power, 
within  or  without  its  territorial  limits,  to  construct, 
condemn,  and  purchase,  acquire,  lease,  add  to, 
maintain,  conduct,  and  operate,  waterworks,  light 
plants,  power  plants,  transportation  systems,  heat- 
ing plants,  and  any  other  public  utilities,  or  works  or 
ways  local  in  use  and  extent,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
and  everything  required  therefor,  for  the  use  of 
said  city  and  the  inhabitants  thereof,  and  any  such 
system,  plants,  or  works  or  ways,  or  any  contract 
in  relation  or  connection  with  either,  that  may 
exist,  and  which  said  city  may  desire  to  purchase, 
in  whole  or  in  part,  the  same  or  any  part  thereof 
may  be  purchased  by  said  city  which  may  enforce 
such  purchase  by  proceedings  at  law  as  in  taking 
land  for  public  use  by  right  of  eminent  domain, 
and  shall  have  the  power  to  issue  bonds  upon  the 
vote  of  the  taxpaying  electors,  at  any  special  or 
general  election,  in  any  amount  necessary  to  carry 
out  any  of  said  powers  or  purposes  as  may  by  the 
charter  be  provided." 

Denver  voted   on  its  first  home-rule  charter  in 

September,   1903,  and  rejected  it.     But  under  the 

constitutional  provision,  a  new  charter  convention 

must  be  elected  at  once  and  another  charter  pre- 

330 


LOCAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

pared  by  it  within  sixty  days  after  its  election.  As 
long  as  the  people  reject  the  charters  submitted 
to  them,  the  charter-making  will  continue.  The 
only  conservative  feature  in  the  Colorado  scheme 
is  the  limitation  of  the  suffrage  to  taxpayers 
when  franchises  or  bond  issues  to  provide  for 
municipal  ownership  of  public  utilities  are  being 
voted  on. 

Oregon  also  has  taken  up  the  home-rule  move- 
ment. The  legislature  of  1901  appointed  a  charter 
commission  of  Portland  citizens  to  draw  up  a  new 
charter  for  that  city,  which,  if  approved  by  the 
people,  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  legislature  for 
passage  or  rejection  without  amendment.  Thjs 
program  was  carried  out,  and  a  new  charter  con- 
ferring very  extensive  powers  upon  the  city  was 
adopted.  The  legislature  of  1901  also  proposed  a 
constitutional  amendment,  granting  to  all  cities  the 
right  to  frame  their  own  charters  by  means  of 
boards  of  freeholders  and  popular  ratification. 
Charters  so  adopted  would  supersede  old  charters 
and  all  conflicting  special  laws.  The  amendment 
also  required  that  the  "  legislative  assembly  by 
general  laws  shall  provide  for  the  incorporation, 
organization,  and  classification  in  proportion  to 
population  of  cities  and  towns,  which  laws  may  be 
altered,  amended,  or  repealed."  This  amendment, 
as  may  be  readily  seen,  is  far  less  radical  than 
the  Colorado  measure,  and  in  one  respect  gives 
a  less  adequate  guarantee  of  home  rule  than  the 
Minnesota    scheme,    which    definitely    limits    the 

33^ 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

classification  of  cities  for  purposes  of  general  legis- 
lation.^ 

Many  advocates  of  municipal  home  rule  fail  to 
comprehend  the  reasons  why  the  state  at  large  has 
a  deep  interest  in  several  branches  of  municipal 
government.  Where  a  city  is  well  governed,  the 
state  may  well  be  content  to  leave  the  administra- 
tion of  public  affairs  to  the  local  authorities  with- 
out interference.  But  when  a  great  city  falls  into 
the  hands  of  a  gang  of  municipal  pirates  who  fear 
neither  God  nor  man,  and  care  nothing  for  the 
welfare  of  the  city  except  that  it  may  be  rich  for 
plunder,  the  state  cannot  well  keep  its  hands  off 
and  see  the  children  educated  in  **  graft "  rather 
than  in  learning,  criminals  taken  into  partnership 
with  government,  vice  promoted  by  civic  authority, 
the  public  health  endangered  by  lax  sanitary  con- 
trol, and  its  own  resources  impaired  by  the  plunder 
of  the  people  in  its  richest  cities.  Professor  Frank 
J.  Goodnow,  of  Columbia  University,  has  done 
more  than  any  other  American  student  to  point 
out  the  balance  of  interests  between  city  and  state.^ 
He  advocates  the  grant  to  cities  of  comprehensive 
local   authority,  subject  in  its   exercise   to  a  con- 

1  In  Oregon  a  constitutional  amendment  has  to  be  ratified  at 
two  consecutive  sessions  of  the  legislative. assembly  before  being 
submitted  to  the  people.  The  legislature  of  1903  ratified  the  home- 
rule  amendment  proposed  in  1901,  but  failed  to  pass  a  law  sub- 
mitting it  to  the  people.  So  it  cannot  be  submitted  until  after 
another  legislative  session. 

2  See  his  books  on  Municipal  Home  Rule,  Municipal  ProblemSy 
and  Politics  and  Ad?ninistraHon. 


LOCAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

siderable  control  by  state  administrative  authori- 
ties. He  points  out  how  this  system  has  secured 
to  the  cities  of  Germany,  France,  and  Great 
Britain  much  wider  freedom  than  American  cities 
have  had,  while  at  the  same  time  in  these  for- 
eign countries  general  interests  are  protected  and 
municipal  extravagance  held  in  check. 

Largely  through  Professor  Goodnow's  influence 
the  National  Municipal  League  embodied  in  its 
proposed  constitutional  amendments  some  provi- 
sions looking  toward  state  administrative  control 
as  a  necessary  correlative  of  local  self-government. 
As  every  constitutional  provision  in  regard  to  cities 
has  a  bearing  on  this  problem  of  local  responsi- 
bility, we  may  as  well  review  the  main  features  of 
the  League's  proposals  for  incorporation  into  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  several  commonwealths. 
They  are  the  following  :  — 

(i)  Municipal  shall  be  separate  from  national 
and  state  elections. 

(2)  All  municipal  officers  shall  be  nominated  by 
petition. 

(3)  The  names  of  candidates  for  the  same 
office  shall  be  printed  on  the  ballot  in  alphabeti- 
cal order  under  the  title  of  the  office. 

(4)  The  legislature  shall  not  grant  any  exclu- 
sive privilege  to  private  parties. 

(5)  The  city  shall  have  no  power  to  alienate 
its  public  places  except  by  a  four-fifths  vote  of 
the  council,  with  the  approval  of  the  mayor.  It 
shall  grant  no  franchise  for  a  longer  period  than 

5S3 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

twenty-one  years.  Such  grant  shall  make  provision 
for  possible  municipal  ownership  in  the  future. 
Every  grantee  of  a  franchise  shall  make  financial 
reports  to  the  city  authorities,  and  the  books  of 
every  such  grantee  shall  be  open  to  inspection 
by  them. 

(6)  The  power  of  the  city  to  incur  indebted- 
ness shall  be  Umited  to  a  certain  per  cent  of 
the  assessed  valuation  of  real  estate  subject  to 
taxation  within  the  city,  but  revenue  bonds  issued 
in  anticipation  of  the  collection  of  taxes  and 
bonds  issued  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  in  re- 
munerative public  services  shall  not  be  included 
in  the  debt  limit,  provided  that  these  public  ser- 
vices are  self-supporting.  The  rate  of  taxation, 
except  for  the  payment  of  the  principal  and  inter- 
est of  the  debt,  shall  be  limited  to  a  certain  per 
cent  of  the  assessed  valuation  of  real  estate. 

(7)  Any  city  may  establish  a  method  of  direct 
legislation  and  of  minority  or  proportional  repre- 
sentation for  city  offices. 

(8)  All  cities  shall  keep  books  of  account  in 
accordance  with  forms  and  methods  prescribed 
by  the  state  fiscal  officer  and  shall  make  annual 
financial  reports  to  him,  these  reports  to  be  printed 
as  a  part  of  the  public  documents  of  the  state.  The 
state  fiscal  officer  shall  have  authority  to  examine, 
or  cause  to  be  examined,  the  affairs  of  the  financial 
department  of  any  city  of  the  state  at  any  time. 

(9)  Cities  may  establish  minor  courts  within 
their  limits. 

334 


LOCAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

(lo)  Every  city  shall  have  a  council  and  a 
mayor  elected  by  the  people.  The  mayor  shall 
appoint  or  remove  heads  of  departments,  except  the 
comptroller,  and  shall  appoint  and  remove  all  other 
officers  in  the  employ  of  the  city,  subject  to  civil 
service  regulations.  All  persons  in  the  administra- 
tive service  of  the  city,  except  the  mayor,  shall 
hold  their  positions  indefinitely. 

(ii)  Cities  shall  have  within  their  limits  the 
same  powers  of  taxation  as  are  possessed  by  the 
state  government  and  shall  be  vested  with  all 
powers  of  government,  subject  to  the  limitations 
contained  in  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the 
state.  Proposed  laws  applicable  to  less  than  all  of 
the  cities  of  the  state  shall  require  a  two-thirds 
vote  of  the  legislature,  and,  unless  approved 
by  the  city  authorities  within  sixty  days,  must 
be  repassed  by  a  three-fourths  vote  of  the  legis- 
lature before  going  into  effect. 

(12)  The  legislature  must  pass  a  general  mu- 
nicipal corporations  act  to  apply  to  all  cities 
which  choose  to  adopt  it. 

(13)  Every  city  with  a  population  of  25,000 
or  more  may  frame  its  own  charter.^ 

This  elaborate  system  of  constitutional  provi- 
sions was  intended  to  cover  the  municipal  needs 
of  every  state.  It  will  be  readily  seen  by  any  one 
at  all  familiar  with  the  state  constitutions  that 
in  many  states  some  of  these  reforms  could  be 
carried  out  by  the  legislature.     But  it  is  mainly 

^  See  A  Municipal  Program^  pp.  176-186. 

335 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

against  the  bad  habits  of  the  legislature  that 
such  provisions  are  aimed.  Nothing  short  of  con- 
stitutional guarantees  will  insure  the  stability  of 
local  self-government. 

Referring  back  to  our  analysis  of  the  main 
forms  of  home  rule,  we  find  that  the  local  choice  of 
local  officers  is  generally  permitted,  the  most  fre- 
quent exceptions  being  in  the  case  of  police  boards. 
The  traditional  American  doctrine  of  local  self- 
government  is  so  perpendicular  that  it  bends 
backward ;  for  the  absolute  right  of  the  locality 
to  choose  from  its  own  citizens  the  officers  who 
are  to  administer  the  state  laws  in  the  city, 
township,  or  county,  gives  the  locality  the  prac- 
tical right  of  suspending  unpopular  statutes.  In 
this  way  the  liquor  law  of  a  state  is  often  nearly  a 
dead  letter  in  many  cities  and  towns.  The  Ameri- 
can method  of  controlling  local  administration  by 
further  legislative  enactment  has  been  a  failure. 
So  far  as  the  city  is  the  agent  of  the  state  for  the 
execution  of  general  laws,  the  city  officers  should 
be  under  the  control  of  the  state  administration. 
In  extreme  cases  it  may  even  be  necessary  to  sub- 
stitute state  appointees  for  local  appointees.  Gen- 
erally, however,  sufficient  control  can  be  exercised 
by  means  of  the  power  of  removal,  without  actually 
resorting  to  state  appointment.  In  New  York  the 
governor  has  the  right  to  remove  the  mayor  or  the 
police  commissioner  of  the  metropoHs  under  cer- 
tain conditions.  The  recent  legislation  which  gave 
the  governor  of  Pennsylvania  the  absolute  right  to 
336 


LOCAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

appoint  and  remove  the  chief  executives  of  three 
great  cities  for  the  period  of  two  years  was  a 
factional  measure,  and  cannot  be  considered  as  a 
step  in  the  direction  of  legitimate  state  administra- 
tive control.  Suffice  it  to  say,  however,  that  the 
traditional  right  of  the  locality  to  choose  its  own 
officers  ought  to  be  established  in  constitutional 
law  in  a  somewhat  modified  form,  so  that,  first,  the 
state  government  shall  have  no  right  to  interfere 
in  the  appointment  of  city  park  boards,  boards  of 
public  works,  and  other  officials  whose  duties  are 
strictly  local ;  second,  the  state  administration 
should  have  a  limited  power  of  removal  over 
mayors,  police  commissioners,  boards  of  health, 
and  other  officers  whose  duties  are  both  local  and 
general ;  third,  the  state  government  should  have 
the  right  to  appoint  excise  commissioners,  factory 
inspectors,  and  other  officers  whose  sole  duties  arise 
out  of  the  general  law. 

The  second  right  of  home  rule,  namely,  the  right 
to  frame  the  local  charter  —  to  determine  the 
forms  of  municipal  organization  —  is  not  in  accord- 
ance with  general  American  traditions.  It  involves 
a  curtailment  of  that  legislative  control  which  has 
been  the  unfortunate  policy  of  our  system.  How- 
ever, as  already  shown,  this  curtailment  is  going 
on,  and  to-day  there  are  eight  cities  in  the  United 
States  having  over  100,000  population,  each  of 
which  enjoys  this  right  under  more  or  less  complete 
constitutional  guarantees.  All  together  about  thirty 
cities  in  the  western  states  are  living  under  home- 

'"^  337 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

rule  charters.  There  is  no  good  reason  for  diversity 
in  the  main  lines  of  municipal  organization  in  the 
several  cities  of  any  one  state,  and  yet  it  seems  im- 
possible to  get  good  general  legislation  on  this  point. 
The  details  of  organization  ought  to  be  left  to  the 
locality  in  any  case,  and  under  existing  circum- 
stances there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  whole 
matter  of  municipal  organization  should  be  left  to 
the  people  of  the  locality  without  any  reference  to 
the  legislature  or  the  governor  for  approval  or  veto. 

The  third  and  most  important  right  of  municipal 
home  rule  —  that  is,  the  right  of  every  city  to  deter- 
mine the  scope  of  its  own  functions  —  is  generally 
included  in  the  right  to  frame  its  own  charter.  It 
is,  however,  distinct  in  principle.  Many  cities  not 
having  the  right  to  frame  their  own  charters  have 
a  considerable  latitude  for  expanding  or  contracting 
their  municipal  activities.  It  is  here,  however,  that 
the  need  of  municipal  home  rule  is  greatest.  This 
applies  particularly  to  problems  arising  out  of  the 
grant  or  operation  of  street  franchises,  but  may 
affect  other  matters  of  importance  at  any  time. 
The  American  rule  of  enumeration  of  powers 
ought  to  be  reversed,  and  cities  be  given  a  local 
grant  of  authority  to  attend  to  all  local  matters, 
leaving  the  courts  to  decide,  whenever  the  question 
is  raised  as  to  the  city's  overstepping  its  jurisdic- 
tion. It  is  in  this  direction  that  the  home-rule 
program  should  be  most  aggressive. 

In  the  matter  of  taxation  and  borrowing  money 
the  general  rule  is  that  the  city  should  be  limited 

338 


LOCAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

either  by  specific  maximum  levies  and  loans  or  by 
the  withholding  of  these  rights  except  for  definite 
purposes.  So  far  as  the  latter  is  true  the  limita- 
tion amounts  to  an  absolute  veto  upon  home  rule ; 
for  practically  nothing  can  be  done  without  money. 
It  seems  perfectly  proper  that  the  state  should  put 
a  definite  maximum  limit  upon  local  taxation  and 
local  debt,  though  in  the  case  of  debt  the  Hmit 
should  not  apply  to  debt  created  for  the  purchase, 
construction,  or  equipment  of  self-supporting  enter- 
prises. So  long  as  we  rely  upon  a  variety  of  taxes 
for  the  support  of  government,  it  would  be  advan- 
tageous for  the  state  to  select  certain  special  sources 
of  revenue  for  general  purposes,  and  leave  the 
cities  free  to  adopt  any  other  forms  of  taxation 
which  they  might  consider  advantageous.  In  this 
case  a  debt  or  tax  limit  might  be  put  on  a  per 
capita  basis  rather  than  a  basis  of  assessed  valua- 
tion. A  state  municipal  government  board  with 
authority  to  advise  cities  in  regard  to  bonding  and 
taxation,  with  a  veto  upon  local  action  within  cer- 
tain limits,  might  be  conducive  to  careful  municipal 
financiering,  and  certainly  would  not  be  in  viola- 
tion of  legitimate  home-rule  rights. 

The  most  strenuous  objection  urged  against 
municipal  home  rule,  both  in  general  and  in  par- 
ticular cases,  is  the  ignorance  or  depravity,  or  both, 
of  the  masses  of  people  living  in  cities.  In  so  far 
as  it  is  true  that  city  populations  are  ignorant  and 
corrupt,  in  so  far  does  home  rule  become  not  only 
expedient,  but  necessary  from  the  standpoint  of 

339 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

democracy ;  because,  according  to  our  theory,  self- 
government  and  definite  political  responsibility  are 
the  sovereign  remedy  for  ignorance  and  corruption. 
Home  rule  frees  the  hands  of  good  citizens  and 
offers  the  opportunity  to  make  one's  efforts  toward 
civic  betterment  count  for  something.  With  home 
rule,  an  individual  citizen,  or  a  body  of  citizens,  is 
not  compelled  to  confound  any  project  of  munici- 
pal reform  with  the  irrelevant  issues  of  state  and 
national  politics,  or  to  appeal  to  an  irrelevant  body 
of  men,  chosen  by  constituencies  only  remotely  in- 
terested in  the  questions  involved.  The  ideal  of 
municipal  democracy  is  to  have  such  a  system  of 
government  that  every  citizen  who  has  time,  intel- 
ligence, and  inclination  to  serve  his  city,  will  be 
enabled  to  do  so  with  the  least  possible  waste  of 
effort. 

The  crowning  argument  in  favor  of  home  rule 
is,  that  it  would  make  municipal  organization  more 
fluid  and  less  cumbersome,  more  a  means  of  carrying 
out  rather  than  of  tiring  out  the  people's  will. 


340 


or  THE      '^  ^\ 

UN/VERSfTY    ) 


^.     °^ 


iroRH' 


CHAPTER   XII 

MUNICIPAL    REVENUES 

The  raising  of  revenue  with  which  to  carry  out 
the  primary  purposes  of  government  is  a  matter 
that  is  all  important  in  its  practical  aspects.  It  is 
in  this  that  the  people  realize  the  necessity  of  pay- 
ing for  the  benefits  of  government.  There  is  no 
magic  in  the  name  of  municipal  cooperation  to 
conjure  up  substantial  benefits  for  the  pubHc  with- 
out money  and  without  price.  If  this  practical  limi- 
tation upon  the  operation  of  municipal  cooperation 
prevents  the  people  from  enjoying  all  the  imagined 
advantages  of  government,  it  also  makes  them  ap- 
preciate better  the  advantages  they  do  receive  and 
necessitates  more  or  less  constant  practice  of  public 
economy,  which,  in  itself,  is  a  good  thing  for  the 
people  under  the  conditions  of  life  that  surround 
us  all. 

The  thirty-eight  American  cities  with  a  popula- 
tion of  over  100,000  have  a  total  net  indebtedness 
of  about  ^55  per  capita,  and  spend  ;^20  per  capita 
every  year  for  maintaining  their  governments.^  In 
other  words,  the  people  of  these  cities  spend  ;^20  a 

^  The  data  here  given  are  taken  from  the  Bulletin  of  the  United 
States  Department  of  Labor  for  September,  1902,  in  which  are 
given  "  Statistics  of  Cities." 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

year  of  their  own  money  for  the  benefits  of  municipal 
governm.ent,  and  have  spent  in  addition  a  total  of 
$55  apiece  for  public  improvements  generally  called 
permanent.  So  far  as  these  improvements  are 
unproductive,  this  expenditure  is  the  expenditure 
of  our  children's  money.  New  York  and  Boston 
are  by  long  odds  the  most  expensive  of  these  cities. 
The  net  debt  of  each  is  more  than  $80  per  capita, 
while  the  current  expenditures  are  nearly  $30  per 
capita  for  New  York  and  nearly  $40  for  Boston.  It 
should  be  stated  also  that  these  thirty-eight  cities 
own  property,  not  counting  streets  and  sewers,  which 
is  worth  in  the  judgment  of  the  city  authorities 
about  $125  per  capita.  Of  this  property  $85  per 
capita  is  in  the  form  of  parks,  other  lands,  and 
public  buildings  which  are  not  financially  produc- 
tive, and,  in  all  likelihood,  will  never  be  turned 
into  money.  The  annual  cost  of  the  government 
is  ;$20  per  capita  in  addition  to  the  free  use  of 
this  property  for  governmental  purposes.  The 
productive  and  semi-productive  public  works,  such 
as  waterworks,  gas-works,  docks,  markets,  ferries, 
bridges,  and  cemeteries,  amount  to  a  little  over  $40 
per  capita  in  value,  in  the  opinion  of  the  city 
officials. 

Some  allowance  should  be  made  for  exaggera- 
tion in  estimating  the  value  of  municipal  assets. 
There  is  no  adequate  standard  by  which  to  meas- 
ure these  values.  Often  the  estimate  is  based  on 
the  cost,  as,  for  example,  the  city  hall  and  city  hall 
site  of  Philadelphia,  which  are  set  down  as  worth 
342 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

;^2 5,000,000.  The  improved  streets  and  the 
sewers  of  a  great  city  are  of  course  of  immense 
financial  value  to  the  citizens.  It  is  certain  that 
they  would  more  than  make  up  for  any  exaggera- 
tions of  city  officials  in  estimating  other  assets, 
though  they  are  not  to  be  considered  productive 
property  in  any  ordinary  sense.  The  streets, 
however,  are  generally  heavily  encumbered  with 
franchises  held  by  private  companies  for  which 
the  city  has  received  little  or  no  compensation. 

So,  although  we  can  claim  that  along  with  the 
debt  of  $55  per  capita  we  are  bequeathing  $125 
per  capita  of  public  property,  making  a  net  be- 
quest of  $70  apiece  to  the  future  as  a  result  of 
our  industry,  wisdom,  and  foresight,  we  shall  have 
to  admit  that  this  property  is  mostly  of  the  kind 
that  will  require  an  annual  expenditure  for  its 
maintenance  and  preservation,  while  the  street 
franchises,  well-nigh  imperishable  assets,  of  con- 
stantly increasing  value,  have  been  in  many  cases 
alienated  for  all  time  to  come.  Productive  prop- 
erty is  the  only  legitimate  basis  of  a  standing  debt, 
and,  judged  by  this  principle,  we  are  clearly  in 
arrears  to  the  coming  generations. 

Of  the  nearly  $300,000,000  net  receipts  of  the 
thirty-eight  largest  cities  of  the  United  States  for 
the  year  1901,  about  61  per  cent  was  derived  from 
the  general  property  tax,  7  per  cent  from  liquor 
and  other  license  fees,  5  per  cent  from  special  as- 
sessments, 10  per  cent  from  waterworks,  gas-works, 
docks,  etc.,  i  per  cent  from  fines  and  official  fees, 
343 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

I  per  cent  from  franchise  sales  and  franchise  taxes, 
2 J  per  cent  from  state  subsidies,  and  I2|^  per  cent 
from  miscellaneous  sources.  The  bulk  of  this 
last  item  was  made  up  by  New  York,  Boston,  and 
Cincinnati.  The  Cincinnati  item  was  principally 
income  from  the  Cincinnati  Southern  Railroad, 
and  the  Boston  item  income  from  the  sale  of  water- 
works to  the  state  and  from  poll-taxes.  New 
York's  income  of  ten  and  one-half  millions  from 
miscellaneous  receipts  included  the  bank  tax  and 
other  items  not  so  easily  discoverable. 

The  sources  of  municipal  revenue  may  be 
roughly  classified  as  follows  :  — 

1.  Taxation  on  property. 

2.  Special  assessments. 

3.  Public  industries. 

4.  The  sale  of  privileges> 
'             5.    License  and  poll-taxes. 

1  6.    Fees. 

i  7.    Subsidies  from  the  state. 

I  8.   Gifts  from  private  persons. 

V  9.    Loans. 

Let  us  take  these  up  in  reverse  order.  We  may 
pass  over  loans,  as  they  form  a  secondary  source  of 
income,  and  must  be  paid  out  of  receipts  from  other 
sources.  Besides,  the  question  of  municipal  debt 
will  be  treated  separately  in  the  next  chapter. 

/Gifts  are  not  of  much  importance  as  contribu- 
tions to  current  revenue.    Indeed,  their  acceptance 
generally  involves  an  increased  draft  upon  other 
sources   of  income  for  annual  revenue.     This  is 
344 


0 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

notably  true  where  library  buildings,  public  baths, 
and  park  lands  are  given  to  cities.  Mr.  Carnegie 
has  made  a  specialty  of  library  buildings,  always 
attaching  as  a  condition  that  the  city  shall  appro- 
priate a  certain  amount  of  money  every  year  for 
the  purchase  of  books  and  the  expenses  of  main- 
tenance. Springfield,  Massachusetts,  has  built  up 
its  great  park  by  a  series  of  gifts  and  purchases 
mixed.  The  public  baths  of  Baltimore  are  the  gift 
of  a  private  citizen.  Almost  every  city  has  some- 
thing to  be  credited  to  the  generosity  of  its  wealthy 
citizens.  Grand  Rapids,  where  the  complaint  is 
often  heard  that  its  wealthy  citizens  are  devoid  of 
public  spirit,  nevertheless  received  as  a  gift  the 
original  portion  of  its  most  celebrated  park,  and  is 
just  now  receiving  from  a  former  citizen  a  beautiful 
^25o,(X>o  library  building.  The  city  also  holds  one 
small  park  and  a  scientific  museum  as  the  result  of 
private  benefactions. 
I  State  subsidies  are  of  little  importance  as  a 
\  source  of  revenue  to  American  cities  except  for 
*  school  purposes.  Many  of  the  commonwealths 
have  established  state  funds  for  the  encouragement 
of  education,  from  which  payments  are  made  every 
year  to  the  municipaHties  in  proportion  to  their 
school  populations.  Seventeen  out  of  thirty-eight- 
cities,  having  more  than  ioo,cxx)  population  each, 
receive  in  the  aggregate  between  ;^4,ooo,ooo  and 
;^5,ooo,ooo  a  year  for  this  purpose.  Michigan  is 
especially  generous  in  this  particular,  having  given 
to  every  locality  the  sum  of  ;^3.io  for  every  child  of 
345 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

school  age  in  the  year  1903.  This  money  is  mostly 
derived  from  railway  taxes,  taxes  on  express,  tele- 
phone, and  telegraph  companies,  insurance  taxes, 
inheritance  taxes,  and  franchise  fees.  Under  the 
state  constitution  a  separation  of  the  sources  of 
revenue  for  state  and  local  purposes  is  impossible. 
The  state  is  required  to  distribute  to  the  localities 
the  largest  share  of  the  money  it  collects,  while  for 
state  expenses  the  localities  are  all  required  to  con- 
tribute in  the  form  of  direct  taxation  on  property. 
Under  normal  conditions  state  subsidies  for  local 
purposes  are  hardly  justifiable,  and  when  they  are 
granted  for  semi-local  purposes,  such  as  education, 
they  should  go  hand  in  hand  with  state  control. 
Indeed,  in  some  cities  where  the  police  or  other 
municipal  departments  are  under  state  control, 
conditions  are  reversed,  the  locality  being  com- 
pelled to  pay  all  the  expense,  while  the  department 
is  amenable  to  the  state  government  alone.  Amer- 
icans are  not  slow  to  see  the  injustice  of  this, 
though  they  are  sometimes  unable  to  escape  from 
it.  The  city  of  Washington  is  exceptional  in  many 
ways.  It  is  altogether  under  the  control  of  the 
federal  government,  and  half  of  its  ordinary  re- 
ceipts is  in  the  form  of  an  appropriation  from  the 
general  treasury.  In  a  sense  liquor-license  money 
collected  by  state  officers  and  turned  over  in  part 
to  municipal  authorities  is  in  the  form  of  a  state 
subsidy.  In  New  York,  where  all  hquor  taxes  are 
collected  by  the  state  excise  commissioner,  the 
cities  receive  two-thirds  of  the  amount  collected 
346 


MUNICIPAL  REVENUES 

within  their  limits.  In  Michigan  collections  are 
made  by  the  county  treasurers,  and  one-half  of  the 
receipts  is  turned  over  to  the  cities,  villages,  and 
townships,  while  the  rest  goes  into  the  general 
fund  of  the  county.  State  subsidies  for  local  pur- 
poses are  in  general  to  be  discouraged.  They  tend 
to  develop  extravagance  and  beggary  on  the  part 
of  the  localities.  State  control  can  better  be  exer- 
cised in  other  ways,  such  as  the  state  supervision 
of  accounts,  tax  levies,  and  bond  issues. 

Fees  form  another  comparatively  unimportant 
'source  of  city  revenues.  The  fee  system  has  been 
prevalent  in  county  government,  always  tending  to 
corruption  where  the  county  includes  a  large  city. 
In  order  to  avoid  this  evil,  county  officers  have  been 
put  on  salaries,  in  whole  or  in  part,  in  New  York, 
South  Carolina,  Ohio,  Michigan,  California,  and 
I  know  not  how  many  other  states.  The  fee  sys- 
tem is  not  generally  appHcable  to  city  officers,  the 
nature  of  their  duties  being  such  as  to  make  the 
charging  of  fees  either  impossible  or  obnoxious. 
To  be  sure,  the  police  are  often  supposed  to  raise 
a  considerable  illegal  private  revenue  from  black- 
mail in  the  nature  of  license  or  inspection  fees,  but 
for  the  police  department  to  charge  fees  for  legiti- 
mate protection  would  be  quite  contrary  to  our 
ideas  of  government.  It  is  not  uncommon,  how- 
ever, for  cities  to  collect  fees  for  the  inspection  of 
building  plans,  of  plumbing,  and  of  street  work. 
These  fees,  as  a  rule,  belong  to  the  city,  not  to  the 
officials  who  perform  the  service.     While  we  need 

347 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

not  regard  the  charging  of  fees  for  services  ren- 
dered as  in  all  cases  out  of  place,  still  the  ordinary 
services  of  a  city  should  for  the  most  part  be  free. 
It  is  often  desirable  to  charge  a  small  fee  in  con- 
nection with  public  baths,  concerts,  theatrical 
entertainments,  and  so  forth.  But  I  do  not  include 
among  fees  the  charges  made  to  consumers  of 
public  utilities  and  similar  industries.  It  is  the 
usual  rule  to  make  a  charge  for  such  services, 
sometimes  more  and  sometimes  less  than  enough 
to  meet  expenses. 

Another  and  much  more  important  source  of  mu- 
Inicipal  revenue  is  license  and  poll-taxes.  I  class 
)them  together,  as  a  poll-tax  is  in  the  nature  of 
a  license  to  live  within  the  city  where  it  is  levied. 
Americans  do  not  always  pay  their  licenses  to  live 
in  the  cities  of  their  choice.  In  the  year  1901 
Boston  levied  a  tax  of  $2  per  capita  on  172,445 
polls,  and  collected  during  the  year  ^106,221  or 
31  per  cent  of  the  whole  amount.  The  cost  of 
assessment  and  collection  of  poll-taxes  was  ap- 
proximately 43  per  cent  of  the  total  amount  col- 
lected. This  record  would  compare  favorably  with 
the  dog-license  record  of  many  an  American  city, 
where  the  freedom-loving  dogs  resent  the  impo- 
sition of  a  poll-tax  and  defy  the  authorities. 
Luckily  the  penalties  visited  upon  the  delinquent 
polls  in  Boston  are  less  severe  than  the  impounding 
and  asphyxiaticr^  to  which  the  dogs  are  liable. 
Boston  citizens  do  not  even  lose  their  suffrage  in 
default  of  payment  of  their  poll-taxes.  In  certain 
348 


MUNICIPAL  REVENUES 

southern  commonwealths  the  poll-tax  is  being  used 
as  a  means  for  the  limitation  of  negro  suffrage. 
For  such  a  purpose,  where  the  authorities  are  suffi- 
ciently interested  in  the  project,  the  poll-tax  may 
be  an  effective  instrument.  As  a  means  of  raising 
revenue  or  of  decreasing  population,  it  is  a  failure. 
Business  licenses  are  more  commonly  required 
in  southern  cities  than  in  northern,  except  for  the 
conduct  of  saloons  and  restaurants,  and  some  minor 
lines  of  trade,  usually  having  special  relation  to  th« 
street,  such  as  running  hacks  and  drays,  fruit 
stands,  huckster  wagons,  etc.  Specially  doubtful 
enterprises,  such  as  fortune-telling,  clairvoyance, 
auctioneering  goods  on  the  street,  and  pawnbrok- 
ing,  are  generally  required  to  pay  for  the  privileges 
of  the  city.  The  regular  professions  and  the  high- 
class  legitimate  businesses  are  not  often  subjected 
to  a  license  tax  except  in  the  South.  License  taxes 
other  than  the  liquor  tax  make  up  of  the  total 
revenues  of  Mobile,  25  per  cent;  of  Birmingham, 
Alabama,  21  per  cent;  of  Montgomery,  Alabama, 
18  percent;  of  Charleston,  14  per  cent;  of  Nor- 
folk and  Savannah,  12J  per  cent;  of  Knoxville,  11 
per  cent ;  of  Atlanta,  7  per  cent ;  of  New  Orleans, 
6  per  cent;  of  St.  Louis,  5  per  cent;  of  Kansas 
City,  Missouri,  and  Louisville,  4  per  cent ;  of  Rich- 
mond, Virginia,  2^  per  cent ;  while  the  average  for 
the  large  cities  of  the  country  is  only  a  little  over 
I  per  cent.  The  difference  between  northern  and 
southern  influences  in  this  respect  is  seen  very 
markedly  in  the  contrast  between  Cleveland  and 

349 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

Cincinnati,  cities  at  opposite  extremities  of  the  same 
state.  The  latter  received  in  1901  ahnost  twenty 
times  as  much  from  licenses,  other  than  saloon 
licenses,  as  the  former.  The  raising  of  revenue 
by  license  taxes  on  legitimate  businesses,  except 
where  they  call  for  special  protection  or  regulation, 
and  the  license  fees  are  levied  to  meet  the  expense 
of  this,  is  not  regarded  as  a  satisfactory  form  of 
taxation  in  progressive  communities.  There  is 
a  feeling  that  every  legitimate  field  of  trade  or 
work  should  be  left  as  free  as  possible  to  open 
competition. 

The  liquor  traffic  is  peculiar  in  that  it  is  uni- 
versally regarded  as  a  dangerous  and  only  semi- 
legitimate  business.  License  fees  of  considerable 
magnitude  are  imposed  upon  it  everywhere,  partly 
to  cover  the  cost  of  public  surveillance,  partly  to  dis- 
courage the  consumption  of  liquor  through  raising 
its  price  and  diminishing  the  number  of  saloons, 
and  partly  as  an  easy  means  of  raising  revenue  for 
general  purposes.  In  1901  the  saloon  contributed 
over  ^20,000,000  to  the  support  of  the  city  govern- 
ments in  our  cities  of  more  than  100,000  population. 
In  this  matter  also  there  is  a  marked  difference 
between  northern  and  southern  cities,  the  former 
levying  much  higher  license  taxes  upon  the  saloons 
than  the  latter.  The  curious  difference  between 
the  North  and  the  South  in  this  matter  of  license 
taxes  can  be  seen  at  a  glance  in  the  following 
comparisons  of  cities  having  about  the  same 
population. 

350 


MUNICIPAL  REVENUES 


St.  Louis  .  . 
Boston  .  .  . 
Baltimore    .     . 

Pittsburg  .  . 
New  Orleans  . 
Detroit  .     .     . 

Jersey  City .  . 
Louisville  .  . 
Minneapolis     . 

Dayton  .  .  . 
Richmond,  Va. 

Wheeling,  W.  Va 
Mobile,  Ala.     . 

Knoxville,  Tenn. 
Schenectady,  N.  Y 


POPULA- 
TION 


575.238 
560,892 
508,957 

321,616 
287,104 
285,704 

206,433 
204,731 
202,718 

85.333 
85,050 

38,878 
38,469 

32,637 
31,682 


RECEIPTS  FROM 
LIQUOR  LICENSES 


$1,051,969 

1,437,281 

408,798 

515.723 
151,500 
273,889 

253.079 
136,565 
351,000 

63,823 
18,125 

38.936 
10,430 

13,000 
37.483 


RECEIPTS  FROM 
OTHER  LICENSES 


$655,175 

48,524 

79.467 

100,037 

269,547 
16,520 

7.382 
136,199 

28,912 

2,562 
40,945 

6,432 
63.044 
30,684 

1,281 


While  similar  comparisons  could  not  be  made  in 
every  case  between  northern  and  southern  cities, 
they  represent  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception. 
I  do  not  know  why  northern  cities  should  tax  the 
liquor  traffic  so  much  more  severely  than  southern 
cities,  unless  it  be  that  the  evils  of  the  liquor  traffic 
are  more  apparent  in  the  north  on  account  of  the 
colder  climate  and  the  greater  proportion  of  Euro- 
pean-born inhabitants.  At  any  rate  the  liquor  tax 
is  a  poor  source  of  revenue  for  municipal  govern- 
ment. If  the  business  is  regarded  as  thoroughly 
legitimate,  it  ought  not  to  be  taxed   more    than 

351 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

other  branches  of  trade.  If  the  tax  is  to  meet  the 
expense  of  the  extra  policing  demanded  by  the 
nature  of  the  business,  then  some  better  way- 
should  be  devised  for  estimating  this  expense  and 
devoting  the  tax  directly  to  it.  If  the  tax  is  for 
the  purpose  of  raising  revenue  for  general  pur- 
poses, it  has  one  merit,  and  that  is  success.  But 
this  success  is  attained  by  governmental  alliance 
with  a  business  which,  in  the  judgment  of  most 
thoughtful  men,  needs  to  be  curtailed  and  dis- 
couraged rather  than  promoted.  The  English 
commons  won  sovereignty  from  the  king  because 
they  held  the  purse-strings.  Democracy  should 
hesitate  long  before  it  surrenders  to  the  liquor  traffic 
the  control  of  cities  in  return  for  fat  revenues. 

Somewhat  allied  to  license  fees  as  a  source  of 
revenue  is  the  sale  of  special  privileges  or  fran- 
chises. It  is  now  well  known  that  the  franchises 
of  a  great  city,  under  the  conditions  ordinarily  im- 
posed, are  of  enormous  value.  A  franchise  has 
value  only  in  so  far  as  it  partakes  of  the  nature  of 
a  monopoly  in  practical  operation.  Unless  the 
monopoly  element  enters  in  some  degree,  the  fran- 
chise is  a  mere  license  or  permit. 

The  movement  for  the  taxation  of  franchises  as 
I  real  estate  has  gained  considerable  headway  since 
it  was  put  into  practical  operation  in  New  York  a 
few  years  ago.  A  franchise  is  undoubtedly  a  right 
to  the  use  of  land  and  should  be  classed  along 
with  landed  property  strictly.  The  taxation  of 
franchises  is  in  no  sense  a  compensation  for  them. 

352 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

It  is  simply  the  taxation  of  a  certain  amount  of 
very  real  property  that  is  in  private  hands.  Never- 
theless, in  bringing  this  class  of  property  upon  the 
tax  rolls,  when  up  to  this  time  it  has  been  as 
clearly  and  universally  exempt  as  United  States 
bonds,  we  take  out  of  its  value  a  sum  equal  to  the 
amount  of  taxes  annually  paid  capitalized  at  the 
normal  rate  of  interest.  For  example,  supposing 
that  the  city  of  Gasopolis  twenty  years  ago  gave 
to  a  company  the  right  to  use  the  streets  for  the 
purpose  of  distributing  gas  to  be  sold  at  a  maximum 
price  of  ^i.oo  per  looo  cubic  feet,  the  franchise  to 
continue  for  forty  years,  subject  to  such  regulations 
and  conditions  as  may  have  been  imposed  when  the 
charter  was  granted.  Now  suppose  that  the  com- 
pany invested  $100,000  in  the  construction  of  its 
gas-plant  and  distributing  system,  and  is  now  able 
to  pay  a  normal  dividend  upon  $200,000  worth  of 
stock.  We  should  say  that  the  franchise  of  the 
company  under  the  existing  conditions  is  worth 
$100,000.  If  we  have  been  taxing  only  visible  prop- 
erty, we  have  the  gas  company  assessed  for  $100,000 
only.  That  has  been  the  condition  under  which 
the  -franchise  was  worth  the  other  $100,000.  If 
now  we  begin  to  tax  the  franchise  as  real  estate, 
and  put  the  whole  $200,000  upon  the  tax  rolls,  we 
have  taken  away  a  certain  amount  from  the  value 
of  the  property.  If  the  tax  rate  is  2  per  cent, 
for  example,  the  amount  of  taxes  received  on 
account  of  the  franchise  will  be  $2000,  and  the 
franchise  itself  will  be  worth  $2000  per  year  less 

^^  353 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

to  its  owners.  If  the  normal  rate  of  interest  is 
5  per  cent,  then  the  value  of  the  franchise  will  have 
been  diminished  $40,000,  which  is  $2000  capitalized 
at  5  per  cent.  By  bringing  the  franchise  under 
the  tax  law,  the  government  will  thus  confiscate 
40  per  cent  of  the  value  of  the  franchise.  Yet 
this  is  confiscation  only  in  the  same  sense  that 
any  new  tax  involves  confiscation.  Nevertheless, 
in  this  hypothetical  case  we  should  have  the  gas 
company  assessed  at  $200,000  when  its  property, 
under  the  new  condition  involved  in  the  taxation 
of  the  franchise  at  its  previous  value,  has  been 
reduced  in  value  to  $160,000.  Under  the  circum- 
stances, therefore,  the  franchise  should  be  assessed 
at  less  than  its  previous  value.  If  assessed  at 
$71,428.57,  its  value  will  be  brought  down  to  ex- 
actly that  amount,  and  the  tax  will  be  just. 

We  must  not  be  deluded,  however,  by  the  idea 
that  by  taxing  a  franchise  we  receive  compensa- 
tion for  it.  It  would  be  absurd  to  say  that  a  grant 
of  land  by  the  government  is  not  a  gift,  because 
the  land  is  taxed  at  its  full  valuation  after  it  be- 
comes private  property.  If  I  sell  my  neighbor 
a  house,  he  is  not  relieved  from  paying  taxes  be- 
cause he  bought  the  house.  True,  one  of  the 
conditions  that  fixed  the  price  of  the  house  was  the 
general  fact  of  its  being  property  subject  to  taxa- 
tion. And  so  if  the  city  sells  me  a  franchise  and 
I  pay  full  value  for  it  under  the  condition  that 
it  shall  be  exempt  from  taxation,  then  if  later  the 
city  taxes  the  franchise,  in  justice  it  should  return 
354 


MUNICIPAL  REVENUES 

to  me,  not  the  whole  amount  I  paid  for  my 
special  privilege,  but  just  the  difference  in  value 
between  the  franchise  taxed  and  the  franchise  not 
taxed. 

The  only  possible  excuse  for  giving  away  any 
franchise  is  the  desire  to  "  build  up  the  country," 
to  encourage  the  development  of  property  for  the 
benefit  of  the  community  and  as  a  basis  for  future 
taxation.  Upon  this  theory  franchises  were  given 
away  in  the  earlier  history  of  most  American  cities. 
Indeed,  new  franchises  are  still  given  away  on  that 
theory  in  many  cases,  especially  where  the  grant 
is  made  for  the  development  of  a  new  kind  of 
public  utility  such  as  the  distribution  of  heat  and 
cold.  This  is  precisely  the  same  theory  on  which 
the  United  States  has  given  away  lands  of  great 
potential  value  to  actual  settlers. 

But  for  any  city  of  considerable  size  now  to  give 
away  a  street  railway,  gas,  or  electric  light,  water, 
or  telephone  franchise  on  the  same  conditions 
under  which  similar  franchises  now  have  an  imme- 
diate and  real  market  value  is,  unless  to  be  re- 
garded as  charity,  a  rank  injustice,  a  governmental 
iniquity,  —  for  what  else  is  it  to  give  to  one  the 
property  of  all }  And,  indeed,  to  sell  a  franchise 
on  condition  that  it  shall  be  exempt  from  taxation 
is  a  ruinous  mortgaging  of  the  future.  For  exam- 
ple, if  the  city  of  Gasopolis  now  sells  a  twenty-year 
franchise  under  condition  of  exemption  from  taxa- 
tion, it  will  receive  ;^  100,000  in  cash,  which  may  be 
immediately    devoted    to  some  permanent  public 

355 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

improvement  requiring  the  expenditure  of  that 
amount.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  franchise  is 
sold  subject  to  taxation,  the  city  will  receive  only 
$71,428.57  down  and  will  have  to  borrow  the  re- 
maining $28,571.43  needed  for  the  desired  improve- 
ment. If  the  city  pays  si  P^^  ^^^^  interest  on  this 
sum,  it  will  amount  to  exactly  $1000  per  year.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  city  will  be  receiving  2  per  cent 
in  taxes  on  $71,428.57,  which  is  the  value  of  the 
franchise.  This  will  amount  to  $1428.57  per  year, 
so  that  the  city  will  be  the  gainer  by  $428.57 
annually. 

Without  going  further  into  mathematical  subtle- 
ties, we  may  say  that  under  normal  conditions  in 
matters  of  taxation  and  municipal  credit,  it  is  more 
profitable  to  sell  a  franchise  subject  to  taxation 
than  to  sell  it  exempt.  In  either  case  the  lump 
sum  received  can  be  properly  expended  only  on 
improvements  lasting  as  long  as  the  franchise.  In 
other  words,  the  sale  of  franchises  in  this  way 
should  never  be  made  to  supply  current  revenue. 
That  would  be  following  the  old  New  York  cus- 
tom of  selling  land  to  pay  current  expenses.  The 
present  value  of  a  franchise  is  of  course  dependent 
upon  many  circumstances.  If  I  am  to  pay  $100,000 
for  a  forty-year  franchise,  I  must  expect  that 
during  this  period  I  will  be  able  to  secure  net  profits 
from  the  operation  of  my  plant  sufficient  to  cover 
the  interest  at  the  normal  rate  for  the  whole  period 
upon  the  cost  of  the  plant  and  also  to  return  to  me 
my  $100,000  with  interest.  In  order  to  fulfil  this 
356 


MUNICIPAL  REVENUES 

condition,  it  may  be  necessary  during  some  part  of 
the  period  to  receive  two  or  three  times  the  nor- 
mal rate  of  interest  on  the  whole  amount.  All 
these  things  tend  to  make  the  sale  of  franchises 
for  lump  sums  an  unprofitable  policy. 

It  remains  for  us,  if  we  are  to  receive  any  com- 
pensation for  franchises,  to  arrange  for  it  on  the 
basis  of  annual  rental  in  some  form  or  other. 
The  form  most  often  advocated  is  that  of  a  per- 
centage of  gross  receipts.  This  plan  recognizes 
the  changing  value  of  franchises  from  year  to  year 
and  the  impossibility  of  lumping  them  off  in  ad- 
vance. It  may  take  the  place  of  the  ad  valorem 
tax,  or  may  be  simply  for  the  purpose  of  providing 
an  annual  rental  in  payment  for  the  fran- 
chise. In  the  former  case  it  combines  the  pur- 
chase price  of  the  franchise  with  the  taxation  of 
the  franchise  and  the  other  property  held  by  the 
grantee.  In  whatever  way  we  get  at  it,  the  im- 
portant thing  is  not  to  confound  compensation 
for  a  franchise  with  the  tax  levied  on  it  as  prop- 
erty. The  franchise  originally  belongs  to  the 
city,  and  if  it  is  worth  anything,  should  be  paid 
for  and  then  taxed  equally  with  other  property 
that  is  acquired  by  purchase. 

As  I  have  said,  the  value  of  a  franchise  depends 
on  the  monopoly  element  in  it.  This  may  be 
expressed  in  the  grant  or  may  be  simply  the  result 
of  conditions  which  discourage  or  prevent  com- 
petition. In  the  nature  of  the  case  a  franchise  for 
the  establishment  of  a  continuous  line  of  fixtures 

357 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

in  the  street  tends  toward  monopoly.  It  is  open 
for  a  city  to  adopt  one  of  two  courses  toward 
these  privileges.  First,  the  city  may  cultivate  the 
monopoly  features  in  order  to  raise  a  revenue  from 
them.  Or,  second,  the  city  by  regulation  may  hold 
down  prices  or  hold  up  the  service  to  the  point 
where  the  monopoly  principle  loses  its  venom,  and 
the  franchise  has  no  value.  Usually  this  question 
resolves  itself  into  the  question  of  a  percentage  of 
gross  receipts  for  the  city  treasury  or  lower  fares 
for  the  street-car  passengers,  lower  tolls  for  the  tele- 
phone patrons,  or  lower  prices  for  the  gas,  water, 
and  electric  light  and  power  consumers.  There  is 
comparatively  little  clear  thinking  on  this  question 
in  American  cities,  and  every  man  answers  it  accord- 
ing to  his  instincts.  If  he  is  a  large  property  owner, 
he  is  anxious  to  relieve  himself  of  a  portion  of  the 
burden  of  direct  taxation  and  favors  selling  fran- 
chise-monopolies so  as  to  replenish  the  public 
treasury.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  poor  or  in 
very  moderate  circumstances  so  that  his  street-car 
fare,  his  water  rate,  and  his  gas  bill  are  a  burden  to 
him,  he  wants  prices  reduced  so  that  he  can  get 
transportation,  water,  and  light  at  cost.  It  is 
generally  agreed  that  a  consumption  tax  on  the 
common  necessities  of  life  operates  as  a  special 
burden  upon  the  poor,  and  is  therefore  unjust  and 
undemocratic.  On  this  theory,  then,  democracy 
will  insist  that  franchises  for  the  supply  of  the 
common  necessities  of  urban  life  must  have  their 
value  regulated  out  of  them  in  the  interest  of 
358 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

cheaper  and  better  service.  It  is  not  inconsistent 
with  this  theory,  however,  to  leave  enough  value 
in  franchises  to  pay  all  the  expenses  incidental  to 
their  exercise.  That  is  to  say,  it  may  be  proper 
to  require  street-railway  companies  to  pay  into  the 
public  treasury,  in  addition  to  any  tax  that  may  be 
levied  on  their  property,  a  sum  sufficient  to  reim- 
burse the  city  for  all  extra  expense  in  the  construc- 
tion and  care  of  streets  caused  by  the  presence 
and  activities  of  the  street-railway  business.  The 
taxpayer  has  no  claim  to  relief  by  means  of  the 
profits  of  public  utilities  except  in  so  far  as  he 
furnishes  a  street  specially  prepared  for  their  fix- 
tures. It  is  the  user  that  makes  a  public  utility 
profitable,  and  consequently  he  should  get  the 
benefit. 

The  United  States  Department  of  Labor  Statis- 
tics of  Cities  shows  that  American  cities  received 
in  1 90 1  about  ;^4,ooo,ooo  from  the  tax  on  franchises, 
and  about  j^ 700,000  by  the  sale  of  franchises.  The 
special  United  States  Census  Bulletin  on  "  Street 
and  Electric  Railways  "  gives  the  total  capital  stock 
and  funded  debt  of  these  enterprises  outstanding 
June  30,  1902,  as  ^2,308,282,099.  The  total  amount 
paid  in  dividends  and  interest  for  the  year  was  ap- 
proximately ;^8  3 ,000,000.  Capitalized  at  4^  per  cent, 
this  would  make  the  market  value  of  street-railway 
securities  in  the  United  States  an  even  two  billion 
dollars.  I  use  4^^  per  cent  as  the  basis  for  capital- 
ization because  this  is  the  ratio  between  the  sum  of 
dividends  and  interest  payments  and  the  market 

359 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

value  of  the  securities  of  the  Chicago  street  railways 
discovered  by  the  agents  of  the  Chicago  Civic 
Federation  in  the  only  scientific  street-railway  in- 
vestigation of  importance  yet  reported  in  this 
country.^ 

The  Chicago  companies  opened  their  books  to 
the  Federation,  and,  upon  the  basis  of  an  expert 
examination  made  in  1898  and  supplementary 
statistics  for  the  three  or  four  years  following,  Mr. 
Maltbie  found  that  on  July  i,  1901,  the  securities 
of  the  Chicago  street  railways  had  a  market  value 
of  ;^  1 20,000,000,  and  their  assets,  excluding  fran- 
chises, an  estimated  value  of  about  $45,000,000, 
leaving  approximately  $75,000,000  or  62  per  cent 
of  the  total  for  the  value  of  the  franchises.  Figur- 
ing on  the  same  relative  value  in  the  street-railway 
business  elsewhere,  we  should  find  the  street- 
railway  franchises  of  New  York  worth  $240,000,000, 
and  those  of  the  whole  United  States  $1,240,000,000. 
This  is,  of  course,  an  exceedingly  crude  way  of 
estimating  the  general  value  of  franchises,  as 
conditions  differ  very  materially  in  different  cities, 
especially  where  there  are  great  differences  of 
total  population  and  density.  The  topography  of 
the  cities  and  the  conditions  of  the  franchise  grants 
also  make  material  differences  in  the  street-railway 
business.  The  assessed  valuation  of  all  New  York 
City  franchises,  including  gas  and  electric  light 
as  well  as  street-railway  rights,  was,  in  1901, 
$211,000,000. 

iSee  Municipal  Affair s^  June,  1901,  pp.  439-694. 
360 


MUNICIPAL  REVENUES 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  sum  received  by  Amer- 
ican cities  from  the  franchise  tax  and  from  the 
sale  of  franchises  is  ridiculously  small  when  com- 
pared with  their  actual  value.  According  to  the 
estimates  just  made,  the  cities  would  have  received, 
with  a  tax  rate  of  only  i  per  cent  of  full  value, 
$12,400,000  from  street-railway  franchises  alone. 
Some  slight  deduction  should  be  made  for  fran- 
chise values  in  cities  of  less  than  30,000  popula- 
tion, from  which  the  figures  are  not  included  in 
the  statistics  of  revenue  furnished  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor.  The  total  combined  capitalization 
of  the  electric  light  and  gas  companies  is  about 
one-half  as  much  as  that  of  the  street  railways.^ 
If  the  franchise  values  hold  the  same  proportion 
to  the  totals,  we  shall  have  to  add  50  per  cent  to 
our  estimate  of  what  a  one  per  cent  tax  would 
amount  to,  making  a  total  of  more  than  $1 8,000,000, 
or  nearly  four  times  as  much  as  the  cities  actually 
received  from  both  taxation  and  sale  of  franchises 
in  1901. 

One  method  of  receiving  compensation  for  fran- 
chises, now  often  advocated,  is  by  the  provision 
in  the  grant  that  the  grantees'  plant  and  prop- 
erty in  the  streets  shall  fall  to  the  city  without 
compensation  at  the  expiration  of  the  franchise 
period.  Such  an  arrangement  for  franchise  grants 
is    now   optional   with   New  York,  Chicago,  San 

1  See  Census  Bulletin  No.  123  for  '*  Gas,  "  and  Bulletin  No.  $ 
issued  by  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  Bureau  of  the 
Census,  for  "Central  Electric  Light  and  Power  Stations." 
361 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

Francisco,  and  some  other  cities  in  different  parts 
of  the  country. 

Some  of  the  provisions  of  the  newer  charters, 
especially  those  of  western  cities,  are  interesting 
and  instructive.  St.  Paul  and  Portland,  Oregon, 
represent  two  distinct  policies  with  reference  to 
public  utilities.  St.  Paul  does  not  permit  mu- 
nicipal ownership  of  street  railvays  or  commercial 
lighting  plants.  Nevertheless,  close  restrictions 
are  put  upon  the  grant  of  franchises.  They  require 
a  three-fourths  vote  of  all  the  members  of  each 
branch  of  the  city  council,  and  if  vetoed  by  the 
mayor,  they  must  receive  a  four-fifths  vote  for 
repassage.  Every  franchise  must  provide  for  the 
payment  of  at  least  5  per  cent  of  the  gross  re- 
ceipts into  the  city  treasury.  No  exclusive  fran- 
chise can  be  granted,  and  no  franchise  at  all  granted 
for  more  than  a  twenty-five-year  period.  Every 
franchise-holder  is  required  to  make  an  annual 
report  to  the  city  comptroller,  showing  in  detail 
the  financial  statistics  of  his  business  for  the  pre- 
ceding year.  The  council  is  forbidden  to  grant 
any  extensions  of  any  kind  to  existing  franchise 
companies  except  on  their  written  agreement  to 
exercise  their  present  franchises  under  all  the 
terms  and  conditions  of  the  charter,  including  the 
payment   of  the  percentage  of  gross  receipts. 

The  Portland  charter  grants  to  the  city  complete 

authority  to  own  and  operate  public  utilities.     If 

franchises  are  granted,  the  power  to  tax  them  like 

other  property  cannot  be  bargained  away.    Grantees 

362 


MUNICIPAL  REVENUES 

may  be  required  to  pay  a  percentage  of  gross 
receipts  in  addition  to  all  other  forms  of  compen- 
sation, and  must  in  all  cases  make  financial  reports 
to  the  city  auditor  according  to  forms  prescribed 
by  him.  Whenever  a  franchise  is  applied  for,  the 
executive  board,  which  I  have  described  in  a 
preceding  chapter,  is  required  to  make  an  estimate 
of  the  value  of  the  franchise  on  the  basis  of  either 
a  cash  payment  or  an  annual  percentage  of  gross 
receipts. 

A  recent  act  of  California,  applying  to  all  cities 
which  have  not  covered  the  same  subject  by 
home-rule  charters,  requires  that  when  a  franchise 
is  petitioned  for,  the  city  council  shall  advertise 
for  bids  on  the  basis  of  a  payment  of  2  per  cent 
of  the  gross  receipts  after  the  first  five  years. 
When  the  bids  are  opened,  any  responsible  party 
may  raise  the  highest  bid  by  not  less  than  lo 
per  cent,  and  this  bid  may  be  raised  in  like  man- 
ner. The  franchise  goes  to  the  highest  bidder 
who  is  able  to  establish  his  good  faith  by  prompt 
payment  of  the  price  offered.  All  these  western 
laws  are  of  too  recent  origin  to  have  been  tested 
very  fully  in  their  practical  workings. 

Provisions  for  the  sale  of  franchises  are  not 
confined  to  the  home-rule  charters  of  western 
cities.  Even  New  York,  the  mother  of  American 
municipal  improvidence  and  the  ancient  exemplar 
of  the  *' piracy  of  public  franchises,"  has  at  last 
got  a  charter  that  protects  in  some  fashion  the 
remnant  of  public  privileges  still  within  the  city's 

3^3 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

gift.  The  most  common  form  of  payment  for  street- 
railway  franchises  has  been  hitherto  the  assumption 
by  the  franchise-holders  of  certain  special  duties 
in  the  care  of  the  streets.  Baltimore  was  the  wis- 
est of  all  our  great  cities  when  the  street  railways 
came  in,  and  required  them  to  assume  paving  bur- 
dens that  have  amounted  to  millions  of  dollars. 
Philadelphia  has  also  received  a  small  part  of  the 
value  of  her  franchises  in  street  improvements 
made  or  paid  for  by  the  street  railroads.  This, 
however,  is  the  old  form  of  compensation  which 
does  not  appear  in  immediate  expenditure  and  does 
not  satisfy  the  demand  of  the  people  nowadays  for 
a  cash  payment  into  the  city  treasury  in  return  for 
a  valuable  privilege.  There  is  nothing  especially 
wrong  with  the  paving  tax,  provided  that  the  street 
railways  pay  in  cash  the  extra  cost  to  the  city  of 
paving  between  and  near  the  tracks.  This  ought 
to  be  reckoned  as  a  part  of  the  cost  of  the  business. 
The  trouble  comes  where,  as  in  Philadelphia,  the 
franchise  companies  assume  indefinite  burdens, 
and,  instead  of  paying  the  city  for  the  paving 
work,  do  it  themselves.  Then  the  city  does  not 
know  what  it  is  getting  for  its  franchises. 

This  question  of  whether  franchises  should  be 
sold  or  made  valueless  by  regulation  is  closely 
allied  to  the  question  of  policy  in  relation  to  public 
industries  as  revenue  producers.  It  makes  no 
difference  in  the  principle  whether  the  franchise  is 
sold  by  the  city  or  is  operated  for  profit  by  the 
city.  Municipal  ownership  and  operation  of  all 
364 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

franchises  is  often  held  up  as  a  possible  and  proper 
source  of  large  net  revenues  to  the  city.  If  the 
theory  suggested  in  a  preceding  paragraph  is 
correct,  then  this  idea  of  making  public  industries 
a  source  of  net  revenue  to  help  pay  the  cost  of  the 
general  functions  of  government  is  all  wrong. 
Public  utilities  are  undertaken  by  the  city  usually 
because  they  are  matters  of  common  necessity, 
and  should  be  distributed  to  the  people  as  cheap 
as  possible.  The  transportation  system  of  a  city 
ought  not  to  be  operated  on  the  principles  of  the 
**hold  up"  by  our  taking  advantage  of  the  ne- 
cessities of  travel  to  levy  tribute  upon  the  people. 
It  ought  rather  to  be  conducted  on  broad  principles 
with  a  view  to  performing  the  greatest  possible 
social  service  within  the  limits  of  self-sustenance. 
If  this  policy  were  followed,  an  equilibrium  between 
the  tendency  to  lower  fares  and  the  demand  for 
better  service  would  be  maintained  at  a  point  where 
the  system  would  be  fully  self-sustaining  and  no 
more.  The  same  should  be  true  of  municipal 
waterworks  and  lighting  plants. 

In  regard  to  other  forms  of  public  industries,  if 
any  are  undertaken,  such  as  cemeteries,  markets, 
slaughter-houses,  dairies,  pawnshops,  coal  yards, 
etc.,  the  same  principle  should  apply.  The  city 
government  is  hardly  justified  in  going  into  busi- 
ness for  profit.  It  is  only  on  account  of  the 
necessity  for  regulating  prices  or  the  character  of 
the  service  that  a  city  may  go  into  any  of  these 
enterprises,  except  on  the  out-and-out  socialistic 
365 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

principle,  and  under  that  condition  profit  would 
certainly  not  be  justifiable.  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
public  industries  ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  a 
legitimate  source  of  general  municipal  revenue. 
When  the  city  is  compelled  to  take  over  any 
industry  for  the  protection  of  public  interests,  that 
industry  should  be  put  under  a  separate  bureau 
of  administration  and  a  strict  account  of  all  its 
operations  kept.  Water,  light,  and  other  commodi- 
ties used  for  public  purposes  should  be  credited 
to  the  appropriate  bureaus,  and  interest  on  debt, 
depreciation,  taxes,  and  all  expenses  incurred  on 
account  of  the  public  industries  should  be  charged 
up  to  those  bureaus.  Every  industry  should  be 
made  safely  self-sustaining,  but  no  more  than  that. 
There  might  be  an  exception  made  in  favor  of  public 
baths  or  other  semi-free  services. 

Strictly  speaking,  public  industries  ought  not  to 
be  compelled  to  provide  sinking  funds  for  the 
liquidation  of  their  debt,  provided  that  they  keep 
the  plant  strictly  as  good  as  new  and  lay  aside  a 
reserve  fund  to  cover  necessary  displacements 
through  new  inventions,  improved  processes,  etc. 
Nevertheless,  debts  should  be  paid,  and  all  public 
plants  should  as  soon  as  possible  become  the 
unencumbered  property  of  the  city.  If  a  public 
industry  is  fully  and  absolutely  self-sustaining,  the 
plant,  which  becomes  the  property  of  the  city  as  a 
whole,  should  be  paid  for  out  of  taxes.  The 
industry  ought  to  pay  into  the  city  treasury  an 
amount  equivalent  to  the  taxes  that  would  be 
366 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

collected,  if  it  were  in  private  hands,  plus  the 
interest  that  the  city  would  have  to  pay  on  bor- 
rowed capital.  This  is  a  part  of  the  expense 
of  a  self-sustaining  business.  But  the  debt  itself 
is  another  thing.  All  permanent  improvements, 
requiring  the  issuance  of  long-time  bonds,  if  legiti- 
mate governmental  enterprises,  are  undertaken 
for  the  public  benefit,  and  the  discharge  of  the 
debt  ought  to  be  laid  as  a  burden  upon  the  public 
through  the  ordinary  modes  of  raising  revenue  for 
general  purposes. 

If  our  conclusions  thus  far  have  been  correct 
these  modes  must  be  either  by  special  assessments 
or  by  general  taxation.  It  is  an  almost  universal 
practice  in  the  cities  of  the  United  States  to  pro- 
vide for  what  are  termed  local  street  improvements, 
in  whole  or  in  part,  by  special  assessments.  These 
special  assessments  are  usually  levied  for  grading 
and  paving  streets  and  for  putting  in  lateral  sewers. 
Assessments  are  often  levied  for  purchasing  the 
land  required  to  open  streets  or  construct  sewers, 
and  any  local  improvements  which  may  be  con- 
strued to  be  of  particular  benefit  to  the  real  estate  in 
the  vicinity  may  be  paid  for  by  special  assessment. 

It  is  customary  for  the  city  to  pay  a  certain  part  of 
the  cost  of  these  improvements,  —  at  least  enough 
to  cover  the  cost  of  the  improvement  at  street 
intersections  and  the  cost  of  cross  walks  and  all 
improvements  in  front  of  city  property.  The  part 
of  the  cost  which  is  paid  by  special  assessments  is 
usually  levied  in  one  of  two  ways :  — 

367 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

Firsts  the  cost  may  be  levied  upon  abutting 
property  in  accordance  with  the  number  of  feet 
frontage  of  each  lot.  In  this  case  the  making  of 
assessment  rolls  is  a  very  simple  matter. 

Second^  the  special  assessments  may  be  levied 
upon  all  real  estate  within  a  designated  district, 
in  accordance  with  the  estimated  benefit  received 
by  each  lot,  or  in  accordance  with  the  assessed 
valuation  of  the  lots.  If  in  accordance  with  the 
estimated  benefits,  the  process  of  making  out  the 
special  assessment  rolls  becomes  somewhat  difficult 
and  complicated,  involving  careful  investigation 
and  the  exercise  of  nice  judgment  on  the  part  of 
the  assessing  officers.  The  problem  is  less  diffi- 
cult if  a  special  assessment  district  is  established 
and  all  real  estate  within  it  taxed  pro  rata  for  the 
improvement. 

It  is  customary  for  the  city  levying  an  assess- 
ment to  make  it  payable  in  several  instalments,  so 
that  the  burden  of  the  improvement  will  not  fall 
too  heavily  upon  the  private  owner  at  any  one 
time.  Where  this  is  done,  the  city  usually  issues 
special  short-time  improvement  bonds  in  anticipa- 
tion of  the  collection  of  the  assessments,  but  inter- 
est is  often  charged  the  private  property  holders 
on  all  assessments  remaining  unpaid  after  the  roll 
has  been  confirmed. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  department  of  municipal 

government  in  which  there  is  more  variation  of 

practice  than  in  the  levying  of  special  assessments, 

and  on  account  of  established  habits  in  this  very 

368 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

important  matter  in  the  different  cities  of  a  state 
where  special  charters  have  been  the  rule,  special 
assessments  would  prove  one  of  the  greatest  stum- 
bling-blocks in  the  way  of  a  general  municipal  cor- 
porations act  applicable  to  all  of  the  cities  of  the 
state,  unless  this  general  act  left  the  determination 
of  the  methods  of  levying  special  assessments  to 
each  individual  city. 

The  general  municipal  corporations  act  proposed 
by  the  National  Municipal  League  as  a  part  of  its 
program  provides  that  **the  city  shall  have  power  to 
make  local  improvements  by  special  assessment  or 
by  special  taxation  or  both,  on  property  adjudged 
to  have  received  special  benefit,  or  by  general  taxa- 
tion ;  the  ascertainment  and  apportionment  of  the 
benefits  derived  from  such  local  improvements 
shall  be  made  in  accordance  with  state  laws."  ^ 
The  league's  program  further  provides,  however, 
that  no  improvement,  to  be  paid  for  by  special  as- 
sessment, shall  be  undertaken  without  the  consent 
of  the  majority  in  interest  and  number  of  the  own- 
ers of  the  property  to  be  assessed,  except  on  an 
affirmative  vote  of  three-fourths  of  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  council  approved  by  the  mayor  after  a 
public  hearing. 

According  to  the  charter  of  Detroit,  paving  and 
grading  of  streets,  except  at  the  intersection  of 
cross  streets,  must  be  paid  for  by  the  owners  of  the 
abutting  property  in  proportion  to  the  frontage 
of  the  lots,  but  if,  on  account  of  the  triangular  or 

1  A  Municipal  Program,  p.  197. 
2B  369 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

irregular  shape  of  a  lot,  it  would  be  assessed  too 
much  according  to  this  rule,  the  council  may  pro- 
vide for  paying  a  part  of  the  assessment  out  of 
the  general  road  fund. 

The  charter  of  Grand  Rapids  provides  that  the 
council  may  determine  that  a  public  improvement 
shall  be  paid  for,  wholly  or  in  part,  by  special 
assessments  on  the  property  benefited.  The  coun- 
cil is  required  to  establish  a  special  assessment 
district.  The  assessment  rolls  are  made  out  by  the 
board  of  assessors  of  the  city  and  confirmed  by  the 
council.  The  council  may  authorize  the  issue  of 
street-improvement  bonds  to  run  no  longer  than 
five  years,  and  assessments  may  be  divided  into 
instalments  payable  one  each  year,  with  interest 
at  6  per  cent  on  all  that  remains  unpaid,  until  due. 
If  not  paid  then,  lo  per  cent  is  added. 

The  municipal  code,  enacted  in  1902  by  the 
general  assembly  of  Ohio,  contains  some  inter- 
esting provisions  for  special  assessments.  The 
council  of  any  municipal  corporation  is  authorized 
to  assess  upon  "  abutting,  adjacent  and  contiguous 
or  other  specially  benefited  lots  or  lands"  any  part 
of  the  entire  cost  and  expense  of  street  improve- 
ments, including  paving,  repaving,  repairing  and 
constructing  sidewalks,  sewers,  or  drains,  and  also 
any  part  of  the  cost  of  lighting,  sprinkling,  sweep- 
ing, or  cleaning  the  streets  or  planting  shade 
trees. 

These  assessments  may  be  made  by  any  one  of 
three  methods :  — 

370 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

First,  by  a  percentage  of  the  taxable  valuation 
of  the  property  assessed. 

Second,  in  proportion  to  the  benefits  resulting 
from  the  improvement. 

Third,  by  the  foot  frontage  of  the  property 
abutting  on  the  improvement. 

The  city  must  pay  "such  part  of  the  cost  and 
expense  of  improvements  for  which  special  assess- 
ments are  levied  as  the  council  may  deem  just," 
being  not  less  than  one-fiftieth  of  the  total ;  and 
shall,  in  addition  thereto,  pay  the  cost  of  street  in- 
tersections. However,  in  all  cases  of  assessments, 
the  council  must  limit  them  to  the  special  benefits 
actually  conferred,  and  in  no  case  may  special 
assessments  be  levied  exceeding  33  per  cent  of  the 
taxable  valuation  of  the  property  assessed  within 
a  period  of  five  years,  and  assessments  for  main 
sewers  must  not  exceed  the  estimated  cost  of  ordi- 
nary street  sewers.  No  lots  are  to  be  assessed 
that  do  not  need  local  drainage  or  that  are  pro- 
vided with  it  already.  Whenever  a  special  assess- 
ment has  been  levied  for  the  improvement  of  the 
streets,  the  property  assessed  cannot  be  again 
assessed  for  more  than  one-half  of  the  cost  of  re- 
paving  and  repairing  the  street,  unless  the  grade 
is  changed.  The  council  may  provide  that  assess- 
ments shall  be  payable  in  from  one  to  ten  instal- 
ments, interest  on  bonds  to  be  included  in"  the 
cost.  No  public  improvement  which  is  to  be  paid 
for  in  part  or  in  whole  by  special  assessments  can 
be  made  without  the  concurrence  of  three-fourths 

371 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

of  all  the  members  of  the  council,  unless  the  owners 
of  the  majority  of  the  foot  frontage  to  be  assessed 
petition  for  the  improvement.  The  council  is 
authorized  to  appoint  two  citizens,  owners  of  abut- 
ting property  on  any  street,  to  serve  with  the 
street  commissioners  in  supervising  the  repair  of 
the  street,  the  planting  and  taking  care  of  shade 
trees,  and  sprinkling,  sweeping,  and  cleaning  the 
street.  These  citizens,  with  the  street  commission- 
ers, constitute  a  board  which  may  make  contracts 
for  performing  the  services  mentioned. 

In  Indianapolis,  the  board  of  public  works  is 
authorized  to  apportion  damages  and  benefits  when- 
ever private  property  is  appropriated  for  street 
openings  or  other  public  uses.  In  the  case  of  street 
openings  within  the  city  or  within  four  miles  of  it, 
a  list  of  owners  or  holders  of  property  or  of  valu- 
able interest  therein  to  be  beneficially  affected  must 
be  prepared.  This  list  must  not  be  confined  to 
owners  of  property  along  the  line  of  the  proposed 
work,  but  must  extend  to  all  property  taken, 
benefited,  or  injuriously  affected.  Damages  and 
benefits  in  these  condemnation  cases  are  to  be 
awarded  without  reference  to  each  other,  and  any 
balance  of  benefits  over  damages  accrues  to  the 
city.  The  cost  of  street  improvements  is  levied 
according  to  foot  frontage,  and  the  whole  cost  is 
paid  by  such  special  assessment,  except  one-half 
of  the  cost  of  street  or  alley  intersections,  this 
portion  being  levied  upon  the  property  abutting 
upon  the  intersecting  streets  and  alleys  for  the 
372 


MUNICIPAL  REVENUES 

distance  of  one  block  in  each  direction.  The 
assessments  are  made  without  reference  to  as- 
sessments for  taxation.  The  assessment  includes 
principal  and  interest,  together  with  the  cost  of  fore- 
closure and  a  reasonable  attorney's  fee  where  the 
land  has  to  be  sold  for  collection.  Assessments  may 
be  paid  in  ten  annual  instalments  with  interest. 
Any  one  wishing  to  take  advantage  of  this  privi- 
lege must  sign  an  agreement  within  thirty  days 
after  the  allowance  of  the  final  estimate,  that  he 
will  make  no  objections  to  any  illegality  or  irreg- 
ularity in  the  assessment  of  his  property.  If  this 
agreement  is  not  signed  and  filed  within  thirty 
days,  the  whole  assessment  becomes  payable  in 
cash.  Assessments  for  sewers,  drains,  and  levees 
are  made  in  a  similar  manner.  The  cost  of 
sprinkling  streets  is  assessed  against  the  adjoining 
property,  while  the  cost  of  sweeping  or  cleaning 
them  is  paid  out  of  the  city  treasury.  The  board 
of  public  works  may  let  contracts  for  the  construc- 
tion of  lamp-posts,  the  cost  to  be  assessed  against 
the  abutting  property.  The  cost  of  ordinary  local 
sewers  is  assessed  against  abutting  property,  but 
where  the  sewer  is  to  provide  drainage  for  a 
district,  the  extra  cost  of  making  the  large  sewer 
is  assessed  upon  all  the  property  of  the  district 
including  the  abutting  property. 

The  law  for  the  government  of  cities  of  the 
second  class  in  New  York  provides  that  the 
expense  of  opening  or  altering  streets  shall  be 
borne  by  the  franchises  and  real  estate  benefited 

373 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

thereby  to  be  assessed  in  proportion  to  benefits  in 
the  districts  of  benefits.  The  expense  of  improv- 
ing a  street  must  be  assessed  upon  the  property 
abutting  upon  the  street  as  nearly  as  possible  in 
proportion  to  benefits  without  reference  to  any 
existing  improvements.  After  a  street  has  once 
been  paved  and  curbed  by  special  assessment, 
every  expense  for  keeping  the  street  in  repair  and 
cleaning  from  sidewalk  to  sidewalk  must  be  borne 
by  the  whole  city,  except  that  the  railway  compan- 
ies must  keep  the  street  in  repair  between  their 
tracks  and  for  two  feet  on  each  side.  The  expense 
for  the  construction  of  sewers  is  borne  in  the  same 
way  as  that  for  opening  streets. 

The  charter  of  St.  Paul  gives  the  city  the 
authority  to  condemn  land  for  public  parks, 
markets,  all  kinds  of  street  improvements,  drain- 
age, etc.  The  expense  of  acquiring  this  land  and 
of  making  the  local  improvements  is  defrayed  by 
special  assessment  on  the  real  estate  benefited, 
excepting  that  the  construction  and  maintenance 
of  crosswalks,  and  sidewalks  next  to  public  places, 
must  be  paid  out  of  the  general  fund,  and  the 
council  may  pay  the  expense  of  improving  or 
ornamenting  parks  and  paving  and  grading  street 
intersections  wholly  or  partly  out  of  the  general 
fund.  After  any  local  improvement  has  been 
determined  upon  and  the  contract  awarded,  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  board  of  public  works,  before  the 
contract  is  executed,  to  determine  the  district 
within  which  property  will  be  specially  benefited 
374 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

by  the  improvement,  and  compute  the  total  valua- 
tion of  the  property  within  the  district.  If  the 
total  cost  of  the  improvement  exceeds  25  per  cent 
of  the  assessed  valuation,  the  council  may  either 
make  provision  for  the  payment  of  the  excess  out 
of  the  general  fund  or  cancel  all  proceedings  taken 
thus  far. 

By  the  general  laws  of  Missouri  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  cities  of  the  second  class,  which  have 
a  population  of  from  20,000  to  100,000,  provi- 
sion is  made  that  the  council  may  cause  streets 
to  be  improved  and,  if  the  improvements  are  peti- 
tioned for  by  the  resident  real-estate  owners  own- 
ing a  majority  of  the  foot  frontage,  may  cause  the 
expense  of  the  improvements  to  be  paid  by  means 
of  "  special  tax  bills,"  the  Missouri  term  for  spe- 
cial assessments.  The  cost  of  constructing  side- 
walks, including  curbing  and  guttering,  must  in  all 
cases  be  paid  by  special  tax  in  accordance  with 
the  foot  frontage.  The  cost  of  grading  a  street, 
exclusive  of  grading  the  sidewalks,  must  be 
charged  as  a  special  tax  on  the  adjoining  property 
in  accordance  with  the  value  of  the  real  estate, 
exclusive  of  improvements.  The  expense  of  other 
street  improvements  is  to  be  levied  by  special  tax 
according  to  frontage.  When  a  petition  is  required 
for  an  improvement,  it  is  sufficient  if  signed  by 
property  holders  owning  a  majority  of  the  front 
feet  owned  by  residents  of  the  city.  Special  tax 
bills  may  be  made  payable  in  five  equal  instal- 
ments,  bearing  interest  at  7  per  cent.      Three- 

375 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

fourths  of  the  expense  of  sprinkling  and  cleaning 
streets  may  be  levied  by  special  taxes  on  the 
abutting  property  according  to  frontage,  the 
remaining  one-fourth  of  the  cost  to  be  paid  out  of 
the  city  treasury.  Sewers  are  divided  into  three 
classes  :  public,  district,  and  private  sewers.  Pub- 
lic sewers  are  to  be  established  along  the  principal 
courses  of  drainage  and  paid  for  by  general  tax. 
District  sewers  must  be  paid  for  by  special  tax 
upon  all  the  lots  in  the  whole  district  in  proportion 
to  area.  Private  sewers  may  be  constructed  under 
public  regulations  at  private  expense. 

New  York  City  and  Chicago  have  paid  for  their 
street  improvements  very  largely  by  special  assess- 
ments, but  Boston  has  experienced  great  difficulties 
in  applying  the  system.  The  supreme  court  of 
Massachusetts  decided,  in  1901,  that  an  act  author- 
izing the  levy  of  the  whole  cost  of  an  improvement 
upon  abutting  property  was  unconstitutional,  as  it 
might  easily  exceed  the  special  benefits  in  many 
cases.  This  decision  threw  the  Boston  assessments 
into  great  confusion.  Mr.  Harvey  S.  Chase,  an 
expert  accountant,  after  making  a  careful  investi- 
gation, reported  that  the  city  would  be  unable  to 
collect  from  special  assessments  more  than  from 
25  per  cent  to  40  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  street  and 
sewer  construction.^  However,  the  decision  of  the 
Massachusetts  court  clearly  sustains  the  funda- 
mental theory  of  special  assessments,  namely,  that 

1  Report  of  the  Collecting  Department  of  Boston,  City  Document 
83,  1901. 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

real  estate  specially  benefited  by  a  street  improve- 
ment should  contribute  the  whole  or  a  proportion- 
ate amount  of  the  benefit  to  defray  the  cost  of 
the  improvement.  Otherwise  local  improvements 
would  be  gifts  of  great  value  from  the  city  at 
large  to  the  adjoining  property  owners. 

The  total  amount  received  from  special  assess- 
ments in  1 90 1  by  the  thirty-eight  largest  cities  of 
the  country  was  something  more  than  ;^  18,000,000, 
or  not  quite  as  much  as  was  received  from  liquor 
licenses.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  special 
assessments  form  a  legitimate  source  of  revenue 
for  cities,  but  not,  of  course,  for  the  general  pur- 
poses of  government.  Undoubtedly,  too,  these 
assessments  are  often  unjustly  laid.  If  the  people 
living  on  one  residence  street  pave  it,  those  who 
live  on  the  next  street  will  come  over  and  drive  on 
it.  Traffic  goes  out  of  its  way  to  seek  a  well-paved 
street.  In  such  cases  the  paving  of  the  street 
in  front  of  a  man's  house  may  be  a  damage  instead 
of  a  benefit  to  him,  especially  if  his  business  does 
not  require  him  to  use  the  pavements.  It  seems 
reasonable  that  a  portion  of  the  cost  of  paving 
should  be  borne  by  the  city  at  large,  and  the 
remainder  assessed  against  benefited  property  in 
proportion  to  the  benefits  without  reference  to 
whether  the  property  has  yet  been  improved  or 
not.  It  might  be  fair  to  pay  a  part  of  the  cost  of 
street  construction  and  repair  by  means  of  a  vehicle 
and  street-car  license  tax.  This  would  be  on  the 
theory   that    the  streets   are  a  public   utility   for 

377 


\ 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

which  the  users  should  pay.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
we  regard  the  streets  as  one  of  the  free  services  that 
the  democratic  city  owes  to  its  people,  then  all  the 
cost  should  be  derived  from  general  taxation, 
except  the  part  that  could  be  raised  by  special 
assessments  under  a  strict  construction  of  benefits, 
giving  the  property  owner  the  advantage  of  the 
doubt  in  all  cases. 

The  principal  source  of  municipal  income  to  meet 
current  expenses  is,  in  practically  all  American 
cities,  the  general  property  tax.  Forty-four  out  of 
the  fifty  largest  cities  got  more  than  half  of  their 
ordinary  revenue  from  this  source  in  1901.  Five 
others  received  more  than  half  from  this  source 
and  special  assessments,  leaving  only  Washing- 
ton, with  its  immense  subsidy  from  the  national 
government,  to  derive  less  than  half  its  ordinary 
revenue  from  the  property  tax  and  special  assess- 
ments. 

The  general  property  tax  is  conceded  to  be  a 
failure  by  economists  and  practical  tax  experts.  It 
has  been  condemned  by  the  history  of  the  world ; 
yet  it  lingers  on  as  the  basis  of  our  whole  tax  sys- 
tem. The  attempt  made  in  many  states  to  tax 
credits  as  property  results  in  double  taxation  where 
successful.  Ordinarily  it  only  succeeds  in  levying 
a  special  tax  upon  honest  men  and  people  of  small 
means,  and  seems  so  unjust  that  the  average 
American  will  perjure  himself,  if  necessary,  to 
escape  from  it.  Credits  are,  as  David  A.  Wells 
said,  the  shadow  of   property.      They  should   be 

378 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

exempted  from  taxation  both  for  fiscal  and  for 
ethical  reasons. 

The  case  is  nearly  as  strong  in  regard  to  all 
kinds  of  personal  property.  The  attempt  to  tax 
it  inevitably  leads  to  gross  injustice,  because  no 
assessor  can  even  approximately  estimate  the  value 
of  the  various  kinds  of  personal  property  found  in 
cities.  Then,  too,  personal  property  can  in  many 
cases  run  away  or  hide  itself  and  so  escape  taxation. 
It  is  notorious  that  the  great  bulk  of  the  wealth  of 
the  rich  in  great  cities  is  made  up  of  credits  and 
personal  property,  most  of  which  now  escapes 
taxation  through  the  most  outrageous  system  of 
guesswork  on  the  part  of  the  assessors  and  per- 
jury on  the  part  of  the  assessed  that  could  be  de- 
vised. As  much  as  80  per  cent  or  90  per  cent  of 
the  personal  property  put  on  the  rolls  every  year 
by  the  New  York  City  assessors  is  sworn  off  by 
the  poverty-stricken  citizens.^  The  personal  prop- 
erty assessment  in  New  York  City  is  about  ^  of 
the  total  assessment;  in  Chicago  J;  in  Philadelphia, 
-^|-g- ;  in  St.  Louis,  J ;  in  Boston,  |- ;  in  Baltimore, 
I ;  in  Cleveland,  ^ ;  in  Buffalo,  j^^ ;  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, -^^ ;  in  Pittsburg,  y^- ;  in  Detroit,  | ;  in  Wash- 
ington, -^Q  ;  and  so  on.  Wilmington,  Delaware, 
enjoys  the  distinction  of  having  no  personal  prop- 
erty on  its  tax  rolls. 

If  personal  property  were  exempted  from  taxa- 
tion, the  added  burden  of  taxes  would  fall  upon  real 
estate.     Now  real  estate  includes  land,  buildings, 

^Durand,  TAe  Finances  of  Ne%v   York  City^  pp.  191-195. 
379 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

other  improvements,  and  franchises.  Franchises  are 
rights  to  the  special  use  of  land  and  are  of  the  same 
nature  as  other  rights  in  land.  They  may  properly 
be  classed  as  landed  property.  Mr.  Henry  George 
and  his  many  followers  have  favored  not  only  the 
exemption  of  credits  and  personal  property,  but  the 
exemption  of  buildings  and  other  improvements  as 
well,  leaving  the  whole  burden  of  general  taxation 
to  fall  upon  land  itself.  The  **  single  tax"  doctrine 
is  sound  for  cities,  if  sound  at  all ;  for  in  cities  the 
difficulties  attending  the  levy  of  taxes  upon  personal 
property  are  multiplied,  and  the  evils  resulting 
from  land  speculation  are  enormously  increased. 
Special  assessments  are,  in  a  crude  way,  based 
upon  the  single-tax  theory,  and  whatever  is  sound 
in  them  is  the  outcome  of  the  idea  of  taking  the 
"  unearned  increment"  from  the  private  landowner 
and  devoting  it  to  public  purposes.  In  some  spe- 
cial assessment  laws  specific  provision  is  made  that 
levies  upon  land  for  benefits  shall  be  made  without 
reference  to  whether  the  land  is  vacant  or  has 
been  improved.  This  is  the  correct  plan,  though 
generally  wide  departures  from  it  are  made.  The 
rankest  injustice  is  performed  when  the  property 
is  levied  upon  in  proportion  to  its  assessment  for 
general  taxation.  This  is  unusual,  however.  Nev- 
ertheless, a  maximum  percentage  of  the  assessed 
valuation  is  often  fixed  as  the  limit  of  special  as- 
sessments. This  might  easily  work  out  favorably 
for  the  owner  of  vacant  lots,  and  thus  be  in  direct 
violation  of  the  theory  of  the  single  land  tax. 

380 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

It  is  not  generally  known  what  relation  the  land 
values  of  a  city  bear  to  the  total  value  of  real  estate. 
The  city  of  Boston,  however,  assesses  land  and 
buildings  separately,  so  that  personal  property 
and  buildings  being  stricken  from  the  rolls, 
everything  would  be  ready  to  put  the  tax  upon 
land  value  into  operation.  The  total  real-estate 
assessment  of  the  city  for  1900  was  ;^902,490,700, 
of  which  $532,933,500,  or  59  per  cent,  was  land 
value,  and  the  rest  the  value  of  buildings.^  In 
thirteen  out  of  twenty-five  wards  the  land  values 
were  greater  than  the  building  values.  These 
wards  included  the  four  in  the  heart  of  the  city 
having  the  highest  assessments.  In  the  seventh 
ward,  which  contains  by  far  the  largest  amount  of 
property,  land  values  amounted  to  ;^  160,000,000, 
while  buildings  were  not  worth  quite  ;^ 5 8,000,000. 
During  the  fifteen  years  from  1885  to  1900, 
according  to  the  assessed  valuations,  land  values 
increased  ;^244,ooo,ooo,  or  a  little  less  than  85  per 
cent,  while  the  value  of  the  buildings  increased 
1^164,000,000,  or  about  80  per  cent.  During 
the   same  period   the   city  collected   from   taxes, 

1  Annual  Report  of  the  Assessing  Department,  City  Document  3, 
1901.  Land  and  buildings  are  now  assessed  separately  in  New 
York  City  and  Detroit.  The  Detroit  assessment  shows  land  values 
to  be  59  per  cent  of  the  total  real-estate  valuation,  the  same  as  in 
Boston.  In  New  York,  taxed  land  values  are  about  60  per  cent  of 
the  total.  According  to  the  assessors'  figures,  the  bare  land  values 
of  the  American  metropolis,  including  exempt  property,  amount  to 
nearly  $3,700,000,000.  See  The  Public,  Feb.  6,  1904,  pp.  690,  691, 
and  Feb.  20,  1904,  p.  724. 

# 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

water-rates,  and  other  income  besides  loans 
;^247,627,69i.42,  which  is  practically  equal  to  the 
amount  of  the  increment  in  land  value  during 
that  time,  if  the  assessors*  estimates  are  correct.^ 
During  this  same  fifteen  years  the  city  increased 
its  debt  by  about  ^34,000,000.  A  tax  of  5  per  cent 
per  year  on  land  values  only  would  have  brought 
in  a  revenue  of  about  $300,000,000,  or  nearly 
$20,000,000  in  excess  of  all  receipts  for  the  period, 
including  water-rates  and  loans  less  the  amount  of 
loans  repaid  and  the  increase  of  the  sinking  fund. 
If  the  water  department  be  set  on  one  side  as  a 
self-supporting  public  industry,  there  would  have 
been  a  further  surplus  of  nearly  $30,000^000. 
This  and  the  decreased  expenditure  on  account  of 
the  simplification  of  the  taxing  machinery  under 
the  single  land-tax  system  would  have  made  a  four 
per  cent  tax  an  ample  source  of  revenue  for  all 
ordinary  and  extraordinary  municipal  purposes. 
During  these  years  Boston  has  been  making  a 
hard  struggle  against  higher  taxes,  an  increasing 
debt,  and  a  threatening  annual  deficit.  $240,000,000 
has  meanwhile  gone  into  the  pockets  of  the  land- 
owners from  the  natural  increase  in  the  land  values 
as  a  result  of  the  growth  and  industry  of  the  city. 

The  theory  of  the  single  taxer  is  simple.  He 
says  that  the  increase  in  the  value  of  urban  lands 
is  the  measure  of  the  economic  advantages  of  city 
life.  People  live  in  cities  because  it  pays  them  to 
do  so.     Density  of  population  has  certain  definite 

1  See  Special  Publications  No.  j-  of  the  Statistics  Department. 
383 


MUNICIPAL   REVENUES 

and  great  advantages  for  trade  and  many  branches 
of  manufacture.  The  natural  or  ''unearned" 
increment  in  the  value  of  the  land  tells  from  year 
to  year  how  great  these  advantages  are.  But  there 
is  a  law  of  compensation  applying  to  city  life  as 
well  as  to  all  other  human  things.  The  city  man 
finds  that  he  must  pay  for  all  these  advantages  of 
city  life.  He  has  to  build  streets,  and  then  bring 
water  from  afar.  He  has  to  construct  railways 
and  then  ride  on  them  to  find  a  place  to  sleep. 
He  has  to  buy  parks  and  fit  up  playgrounds  and 
put  manual  training  into  the  schools  to  save  his 
family  from  physical  and  moral  degeneration.  He 
has  to  maintain  a  fire  department  to  save  himself 
and  his  property  from  burning,  and  a  police 
department  to  keep  himself  from  getting  robbed 
or  murdered  and  to  help  his  wife  across  the  street 
at  dangerous  crossings.  He  has  to  establish  a 
health  department  and  pay  great  fees  to  have  his 
garbage  removed  and  his  sick  neighbor  quaran- 
tined. 

In  brief,  just  as  he  reaches  out  to  enjoy  the 
economic  advantages  of  city  life,  he  experiences 
what  I  have  called  the  resistance  of  local  interests. 
The  land  levies  a  tax  on  him  for  wanting  to  put  it 
to  new  and  unheard-of  uses.  When  this  tax 
becomes  greater  than  the  unearned  increment  in 
land  value,  city  life  ceases  to  be  economically 
profitable.  It  does  not  pay  any  longer.  The  city 
is  too  big  or  too  extravagant.  Now  the  single  taxer 
says  that  our  present  system  of  taxation  is  a  misfit 

3^3 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

because  it  lets  the  economic  advantages  of  city  life 
be  absorbed  by  the  landlords  and  makes  us  all  help 
pay  for  having  the  disadvantages  removed.  The 
expense  of  city  government  is  a  local  necessity; 
it  is  the  tax  that  the  land  levies  on  the  people  for 
wanting  to  live  all  in  one  place.  Why  should  not 
the  people  turn  about  and  tax  the  land  to  keep 
even .''  That  is  precisely  what  is  being  done  all  the 
time  by  the  construction  of  high  buildings,  and  the 
laying  of  a  network  of  pipes  and  wires  under- 
ground, and  all  the  other  devices  to  get  an  added 
use  out  of  land.  The  trouble  is  that  this  tax  is 
absorbed  as  rent  and  does  not  go  to  balance  the 
other  tax  at  all,  except  the  fraction  now  taken  in 
the  general  property  tax. 

Clearly,  as  regards  cities  at  least,  the  single  taxer 
is  right.  The  only  really  legitimate  source  of 
municipal  revenue  is  the  tax  on  land  value.  This 
includes  a  franchise  tax  and  a  vehicle  tax,  if  the 
city  desires  to  treat  the  streets  like  other  land  and 
make  them  self-supporting.  Special  assessments 
would  disappear  as  such,  for  every  assessment 
would  be  special,  —  a  tax  on  benefits  pure  and 
simple.  All  public  industries  of  importance  would 
be  managed  independently  on  a  self-supporting 
basis.  The  change  from  the  present  system  could 
be  made  easily  by  a  gradual  process  of  exclusion. 
If  done  in  this  way,  the  "  confiscation "  of  land 
would  be  a  no  more  serious  innovation  than  the 
confiscation  that  takes  place  whenever  any  new 
tax  is  imposed  or  the  ordinary  rate  of  taxation 
384 


MUNICIPAL  REVENUES 

increased.  But  the  change  ought  not  to  be  too 
gradual,  for  we  have  lost  a  great  deal  of  time 
already,  and  the  city  problem  is  pressing  us  hard. 
An  honest  and  simple  tax  system  is  at  the  basis  of 
good  government  and  healthy  civic  life.  The 
single  tax  upon  land  values  is  the  most  promising 
of  all  the  planks  in  the  program  of  civic  reform, 
except  the  change  in  human  nature  proposed  by 
the  evangelists  of  the  gospel  of  love. 


2C 


38s 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MUNICIPAL  DEBT 

Most  American  cities  go  into  debt  whenever 
they  desire  to  make  improvements  that  will  last 
for  a  number  of  years,  such  as  the  construction  of 
pavements,  bridges,  public  buildings,  sewers,  water- 
works, etc.,  or  the  purchase  of  park  lands.  It  is 
believed  that  as  the  citizens  of  next  year  and  the 
following  years  will  have  a  share  in  the  benefits  of 
these  improvements,  they  ought  to  help  pay  for 
them.  This  theory  is  sound  when  applied  to  great 
undertakings  that  are  started  as  soon  as  they  are 
needed,  so  long  as  the  bonds  do  not  run  beyond 
the  bona  fide  life  of  the  improvements.  But  when 
improvements  are  postponed  while  the  original 
real-estate  owners  are  pocketing  their  winnings 
from  the  first  great  advance  in  the  advantages  of 
city  life,  it  is  unfair  to  throw  the  cost  of  delinquent 
improvements  upon  the  future,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  such  a  policy  will  keep  the  city  from 
ever  catching  up,  each  generation  having  the  debt 
of  the  preceding  one  to  pay.  It  is  also  unfair  to 
issue  bonds  that  will  not  fall  due  until  after  the 
original  improvements  are  "  dead  and  gone."  But 
even  if  this  unfairness  be  avoided,  it  is  poor  fiscal 
policy  to  borrow  money  for  the  construction  of 
386, 


MUNICIPAL   DEBT 

unproductive  public  works  except  in  cases  of  real 
necessity,  and  then  the  bonds  should  be  issued  for 
minimum  periods. 

New  York's  per  capita  debt  was,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  1902,  $86.82  as  against  San  Francisco's 
^1.48.^  The  enormous  amount  of  municipal  in- 
debtedness of  most  of  the  large  cities  imposes  a 
heavy  burden  upon  the  current  revenues  for  the 
payment  of  interest.  All  together  this  amounts 
annually  to  about  $36,000,000  in  the  cities  of 
100,000  population.  This  is  a  great  sum  when  we 
remember  that  waterworks  are  about  the  only  rev- 
enue-producing plants  of  any  consequence  owned 
by  cities,  so  that  this  interest  on  debt  is  almost 
wholly  paid  out  of  current  taxes. 

All  debt  is  a  burden  except  where  it  has  been 
issued  to  provide  means  for  the  construction  of  fully 
self-supporting  commercial  plants.  In  that  case 
the  debt  is  no  burden  as  long  as  the  industry  pays 
the  interest  on  it,  and  lets  the  principal  stand.  If  the 
city  takes  over  an  industry  with  the  idea  of  making 
a  profit  from  it,  the  incurring  of  a  debt  may  be  an 
absolute  advantage.  But  we  have  concluded  in 
the  preceding  chapter  that  it  is  undemocratic  and, 
in  fact,  ungovernmental  for  a  city  to  go  into 
industry  for  profit.  If  this  principle  is  accepted, 
then  public  industry  debts  will  be  neither  an 
advantage  nor  a  disadvantage  so  long  as  they 
remain  unpaid.     If  the  city  pays  them  out  of  taxes, 

^  See  Bulletin  of  United  States  Labor  Department,  September, 
1902,  p.  981,  for  the  total  debt  of  leading  American  cities. 

387 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

and  then  collects  from  the  industries  less  than 
the  normal  private  rate  of  interest  on  the  cap- 
ital invested,  the  city  at  large  will  be  the  loser 
financially. 

The  long-term  bonds  issued  by  the  cities  of 
100,000  population  in  1901  amounted  to  more 
than  ;^75, 000,000;  while  the  long-term  bonds  paid 
amounted  to  about  ;^2 7,000,000,  leaving  a  net  in- 
crease in  the  debt  of  these  cities  of  about  ^48,000,- 
000  for  a  single  year.  The  increase  in  debt  for  the 
year  1900  was  about  $50,000,000.  The  total  net 
debt  of  these  cities  at  the  close  of  the  year  1901  was 
somewhat  more  than  ;^76o,ooo,ooo.  This  amounts 
to  only  fifteen  or  sixteen  years'  debt  at  the  present 
rate  of  increase.  If  this  rate  keeps  up,  making  no 
allowance  for  increase  according  to  increase  of 
population,  in  the  year  1950,  these  thirty-eight 
cities  will  have  a  debt  of  about  ;^ 3, 200,000,000. 
The  debt  in  1900  amounted  to  a  little  more  than 
$50  per  capita  and  is  increasing  in  the  amount  of 
;^3.50  per  capita  per  year,  on  the  basis  of  a  station- 
ary population.  The  actual  rate  of  increase  of  the 
per  capita  debt  seems  to  be  about  $1.50  per  year. 
At  this  rate  in  1950  these  cities  would  have  a  per 
capita  debt  of  $125.1 

All  these  figures  are  based  upon  the  supposition 
that  the  cities  will  continue  to  follow  the  general 
policy  in  regard  to  permanent  improvements  now 
being  pursued.  We  must  remember,  however, 
that  the  movement  toward  municipal  ownership 

iSee  Bulletin^  op.  cii.,  September,  1901,  and  September,  1902. 
388 


MUNICIPAL  DEBT 

is  a  strong  one,  and  that  before  another  fifty  years 
comes  around,  there  is  likely  to  be  a  vast  increase 
of  municipal  debt  on  account  of  the  purchase  or 
construction  of  gas  and  electric  light  works,  street 
railways,  telephones,  etc.  Municipal  ownership 
should  not  be  discredited  because  of  its  tendency 
to  increase  the  municipal  debt,  provided  that  the 
new  enterprises  of  the  city  are  made  to  be  fully 
self-sustaining.  Indeed,  the  increase  in  indebted- 
ness on  account  of  taking  over  public  utihties  will 
be  to  a  great  extent  only  a  nominal  increase ;  for 
all  franchises  now  in  private  hands  are  in  reality 
mortgages  upon  the  streets  to  the  full  extent  of 
their  market  value,  and  should  be  added  to  the 
other  debts  of  the  city  if  we  desire  to  ascertain  its 
total  obligations.  If  Mr.  Maltbie's  estimate  of  the 
value  of  Chicago's  street-railway  franchises  is 
correct,  the  real  debt  of  that  city  on  account  of 
this  class  of  franchises  alone  is  ;?75, 000,000,  or 
double  the  nominal  city  debt.^ 

This  is  such  an  important  proposition  that  we 
need  to  consider  it  with  some  care.  A  franchise  is 
a  special  right  to  the  use  of  the  street  for  a  definite 
or  indefinite  period,  or  forever.  In  granting  a 
franchise  the  city  binds  itself  to  deliver  to  the 
grantee  the  use  of  the  street  to  the  extent  named 
in  the  contract  every  year  until  the  expiration  of 
the  grant.  This  delivery  of  the  use  of  the  street  is 
equivalent  to  an  annual   payment  into  a  sinking 

1  See  Municipal  Affairs^  June,  1901,  for  an  article  on  "Chicago 
Street  Railways,"  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made. 

389 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

fund  for  the  liquidation  of  the  franchise.  If  the 
city  has  sold  the  franchise  and  used  the  money,  it 
has  amounted  to  raising  a  loan  by  pledging  a 
certain  use  of  the  street  or  a  certain  part  of  the 
revenues  of  the  street.  If  the  city  receives  an 
annual  payment  to  the  full  amount  of  the  annual 
value  of  the  franchise,  then  no  debt  is  created,  for 
the  city  has  given  nothing  away,  and  receives  from 
year  to  year  dollar  for  dollar  of  the  use  value 
delivered  to  the  franchise-holder  during  the  year. 
If,  however,  a  valuable  franchise  has  been  given 
away,  the  city  has  indebted  itself  to  the  extent  of 
the  value  of  the  franchise  just  the  same  as  if  it  had 
issued  bonds  to  that  amount,  a  certain  proportion 
of  them  to  fall  due  every  year  during  the  period, 
but  had  received  nothing  for  the  bonds.  The 
value  of  the  franchise  as  delivered  in  instalments 
from  year  to  year  equals  the  original  value  plus 
interest  charges.  Giving  away  a  franchise  is  like 
giving  away  bonds  to  the  amount  of  the  present 
value  of  the  franchise.  Selling  a  franchise  for  a 
lump  sum  is  like  selling  bonds. 

Taking  these  facts  into  consideration  we  find 
American  cities  in  a  much  more  deplorable  condi- 
tion at  the  present  time  than  is  shown  on  the  face 
of  the  debt  statements.  At  the  same  time  the 
prospective  increase  in  debt  on  account  of  taking 
over  public  utilities  is  seen  to  be  nothing  to  cause 
alarm,  at  least  so  far  as  the  value  of  the  franchises 
is  concerned.  To  resume  the  franchises,  unless 
the  city  pays  more  than  they  are  worth,  will   be 

390 


MUNICIPAL  DEBT 

simply  to  convert  one  sort  of  obligations  into  an- 
other, or,  if  you  please,  to  fund  a  floating  debt.  So 
far  as  the  actual  cost  of  public  utility  plants  is  con- 
cerned, there  will  be  a  real  increase  in  debt  which 
will  add  to  the  burden  of  the  taxpayers  unless 
these  plants  are  made  absolutely  self-supporting. 

In  most  American  cities  the  suffrage  is  suffi- 
ciently democratic  so  that  practically  all  resident 
male  citizens  are  entitled  to  equal  voice  in  the 
conduct  of  the  government.  It  is  easy  to  see  that 
the  right  to  impose  unlimited  debt  upon  a  city  is 
equivalent  to  the  ultimate  ownership  of  all  the 
real  estate  in  the  city ;  for  a  man  cannot  mortgage 
a  house  and  lot  unless  they  are  his.  In  so  far  as 
the  voters  have  a  right  to  bond  the  city,  in  so  far 
all  the  lands  and  buildings  within  the  city  ulti- 
mately belong  to  the  voters.  Yet  Americans  are 
jealous  of  the  rights  of  private  property  and  feel 
the  necessity  of  protecting  themselves  from  the 
ultimate  community  ownership  that  is  the  logical 
result  of  democratic  sovereignty. 

This  protection,  where  it  has  been  secured,  has 
been  the  outgrowth  of  one  of  two  policies,  namely, 
first,  the  limitation  of  the  suffrage  in  voting  upon 
bond  issues;  and  second,  the  limitation  of  the 
debt  which  any  given  locality  may  impose  upon 
itself.  The  former  policy  would  so  far  infringe 
upon  the  principles  of  democracy  as  to  permit  only 
taxpayers  or  freeholders  to  vote,  or  to  hold  office. 
When  a  freehold  qualification  is  required  for  mem- 
bers of  the  city  council  and   the  mayor,  and  the 

391 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

people  are  not  authorized  to  vote  directly  upon  the 
issue  of  bonds,  the  limitation  amounts  to  a  good 
deal  even  where  the  suffrage  has  no  taxpaying 
qualifications.  Whenever  property  qualifications 
for  voting  on  bond  issues  are  required,  the  demo- 
cratic principle  is  applied  among  the  actual  voters, 
so  that  a  man  who  pays  taxes  on  $1000  valuation 
has  the  same  vote  as  the  one  who  pays  on  ;^  1,000,000. 
Though  a  good  many  instances  can  be  pointed  out, 
where  property  and  taxpaying  qualifications  have 
been  relied  on  to  curtail  debt,  generally  speaking, 
this  Umitation  of  the  suffrage  or  of  office-holding 
is  not  popular  in  America. 

The  more  common  device  for  protecting  private 
property  from  confiscation  by  vote  of  the  property- 
less  electors  is  to  limit  the  rate  of  debt  or  taxation, 
or  both,  that  may  be  voted  by  any  locality.  Of 
the  largest  cities  only  seven  have  no  debt  limit. 
These  are  Baltimore,  St.  Paul,  Toledo,  Columbus, 
Cincinnati,  Newark,  and  Jersey  City.^  The  per 
capita  debt  of  these  cities  is  about  $62,  approxi- 
mately 20  per  cent  above  the  average.  Four  cities, 
New  Orleans,  Washington,  New  Haven,  and  Mem- 
phis, have  their  borrowing  powers  controlled  from 
time  to  time  by  the  state  and  national  legislatures. 
Their  per  capita  debt  is  about  $48.50,  which  is 
slightly  less  than  the  average.  The  other  cities 
have  debt  limits  fixed  by  constitution  or  statute  at 
from  2  per  cent  to  30  per  cent  of  assessed  valua- 
tion for  taxing  purposes.     In  a  number  of  cases 

1  See  Statistics  of  Cities^  op.  cit.,  September,  1 902. 


MUNICIPAL   DEBT 

the  water  debt  lies  outside  the  limit.  Sometimes 
the  limit  can  be  raised  by  popular  vote.  Boston, 
with  its  limit  of  2|  per  cent  on  the  average  assessed 
valuation  for  the  preceding  three  years,  has  a  per 
capita  debt  60  per  cent  above  the  average.  This 
is  made  possible  by  excluding  much  of  the  debt 
from  the  Hmit  and  by  extremely  high  assessments. 
Chicago,  with  its  5  per  cent  limit,  has  a  debt  60  per 
cent  below  the  average.  This  is  made  necessary 
by  extremely  low  assessments. 

So  long  as  the  fixing  of  the  debt  limit  is  left  to  a 
state  legislature  elected  by  manhood  suffrage,  or 
to  a  state  constitution  adopted  by  equal  vote  of  all 
the  people,  there  is  no  violation  of  the  principles 
of  democracy  involved  in  the  Hmitation  of  munic- 
ipal indebtedness.  Private  property  is  maintained 
by  the  state,  and  no  claim  can  be  set  up,  on  the 
ground  of  democracy,  that  the  people  of  a  city 
should  have  the  right  to  confiscate  the  property  of 
their  fellow-citizens  against  the  will  of  the  state 
as  expressed  in  its  constitution  and  statutes.  In 
short,  municipal  debt  is  one  of  the  fields  of  mu- 
nicipal government  where  the  state  must  retain  the 
right  of  control  either  through  the  legislature  or 
the  administrative  authorities,  or  by  means  of  con- 
stitutional limitations. 

In  some  of  the  states  the  constitutions  require 
the  legislature  to  limit  the  powers  of  the  cities  in 
levying  taxes,  incurring  debt,  and  loaning  their 
credits.  This  method  of  controlling  municipal 
debt  has  not  proven  very  satisfactory.     Except  in 

393 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

extreme  cases,  the  state  legislature  is  not  con- 
cerned about  the  issue  of  city  bonds,  and  grants 
the  authority  upon  request  of  the  local  represen- 
tatives in  the  legislature.  The  National  Munici- 
pal League  proposes  a  constitutional  debt  limit 
of  a  certain  per  cent  of  the  assessed  value  of  real 
estate,  but  would  not  include  within  this  limit  tem- 
porary loans  or  loans  made  for  the  construction  of 
public  utilities  which  actually  support  themselves. 
Professor  Tooke  has  suggested  that  all  debts  in- 
curred on  behalf  of  public  utility  plants  should  be 
a  lien  upon  those  plants  alone,  and  consequently 
not  rest  as  an  ultimate  burden  upon  the  general 
property  rolls  of  the  city.^ 

This  whole  question  of  municipal  debt  is  one  of 
grave  difficulty.  The  duty  of  the  state  to  protect 
its  own  sources  of  revenue,  the  right  of  the  private 
owner  of  real  estate  to  the  possession  of  his  prop- 
erty under  the  law,  the  right  of  the  city  to  gov- 
ern itself  and  work  out  its  own  destiny,  and  the 
right  of  future,  generations  to  pay  their  own  debt 
and  not  ours,  seem  to  conflict  in  many  points.  It 
seems  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  best  solution 
of  the  difficulty  would  be  to  place  a  general  limit 
upon  local  indebtedness  by  constitution  or  statute 
and  leave  the  determination  of  the  issue  of  bonds 
within  that  limit  to  popular  vote  in  the  locality, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  a  state  fiscal  officer  or 

1  Charles  W.  Tooke,  Constitutional  Limitations  of  Municipal 
Indebtedness,  reprinted  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Syracuse  Con- 
vention of  the  League  of  American  Municipalities. 

394 


MUNICIPAL   DEBT 

board  whose  duty  it  would  be  carefully  to  examine 
existing  conditions  of  the  municipal  debt  and  see 
that  the  provisions  of  the  law  had  been  lived  up  to 
before  approving  any  bond  issue. 

One  of  the  conditions  universally  applying  to 
municipal  bond  issues  for  unproductive  improve- 
ments should  be  the  establishment  of  sinking 
funds  and  sufficient  annual  payments  from  taxes 
to  provide  for  the  redemption  of  the  bonds  at  the 
expiration  of  their  terms.  Of  course,  if  all  bond 
issues  were  arranged  so  that  an  equal  amount 
would  fall  due  each  year  and  be  paid  out  of  cur- 
rent revenues,  there  would  be  no  need  of  sinking 
funds.  Bond  issues  for  productive  enterprises 
may  be  for  longer  terms  than  other  bonds.  But 
there  should  in  no  case  be  a  permanent  debt  any 
more  than  there  should  be  a  grant  of  perpetual 
franchises.  In  general,  debts  should  be  made  due 
soon  and  paid  when  due.  There  will  always  be 
enough  reason  for  creating  new  debts  for  new  im- 
provements, so  that  the  old  debts  ought  to  be  got 
out  of  the  way  as  quickly  as  possible. 

In  order  to  be  able  to  judge  a  little  more  intel- 
ligently as  to  the  best  policy  for  correcting  the 
grave  abuses  of  municipal  credit  and  putting  our 
cities  on  a  more  honorable  basis  with  reference 
to  the  future,  let  us  examine  somewhat  in  detail 
the  bond  issues  of  one  or  two  American  cities,  and 
see  for  what  purposes  municipal  debt  is  incurred. 
The  comptroller's  report  of  the  city  of  New  York 
for  the  year   1901   showed  that  on  December  31 

395 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

of  that  year  the  gross  funded  debt  of  the  city  was 
$416,262,22^.61.  The  schedule  of  the  various 
series  of  bonds  making  up  this  total  fills  seventy 
printed  pages.  The  distribution  of  this  debt  was 
about  as  follows  :  — 

For  water-supply  and  waterworks $75,000,000 

For  street  improvements  and  sewers 70,000,000 

For  parks  and  boulevards 54,000,000 

For  docks  and  ferries 46,000,000 

For  school  sites  and  schoolhouses 44,000,000 

For  bridges 39,000,000 

For  rapid  transit  tunnel  construction 12,000,000 

For  museums 9,000,000 

For  sites  and  buildings  for  administrative  purposes  27,000,000 
For  refunding  old  debt,  for  paying  judgments,  and 

for  miscellaneous  purposes 40,000,000 

It  is  impossible  to  analyze  closely  the  last  item 
of  ;^40,ooo,ooo,  most  of  it  being  made  up  of  refund- 
ing bonds  and  old  county  bonds,  with  no  indication 
as  to  the  specific  purposes  for  which  the  debt  was 
originally  incurred. 

During  the  thirty  years  from  1870  to  1900  the 
city  of  Boston  created  debts  amounting  to  a  total 
of  ;^i24,753,io8.65.i 

This  amount  was  distributed  as  follows :  — 

For  water-supply  and  waterworks $18,133,711.11 

For  street  improvements  and  sewers  .     .     .     .  59,520,151.74 

For  parks  and  public  grounds 15,444,760.98 

For  ferries 724,000.00 

1  See  Special  Publications  No.  j,  Statistics  Department,  City  of 
Boston,  Table  III  A. 


MUNICIPAL   DEBT 

For  school  sites  and  schoolhouses $7,917,822.07 

For  bridges 3,609,716.66 

For  rapid  transit 4,700,000.00 

For  public  library 2,947,900.00 

For  sites,  buildings,  and  equipment  for  admin- 
istrative purposes -.     .  10,454,246.09 

For  miscellaneous  purposes 1,300,800.00 

We  have  already  referred  to  Boston's  debt  limit 
being  fixed  at  2J  per  cent  of  the  average  valuation 
of  taxable  property  during  the  preceding  three 
years.  It  should  be  noted  that  of  the  1^77,000,000 
debt  created  between  1885  and  1900,  $40,000,000 
came  outside  of  the  debt  limit  by  authority  of  special 
statutes,  and  the  $64,000,000  water  debt  created 
was  also  excepted  from  the  debt  limit.  This  shows 
how  frail  a  thing  a  debt  limit  is  when  established 
by  statute.  In  this  case  40  per  cent  of  the  debt 
created  came  within  the  rule  and  60  per  cent  within 
the  exception. 

Along  with  the  debt  statements  of  Boston  and 
New  York  we  may  set  that  of  Grand  Rapids,  a 
much  smaller  city,  and  one  that  has  only  one-fourth 
as  much  debt  per  capita.  The  total  indebtedness 
of  this  city  on  July  i,  1903,  was  $2,212,000,  distrib- 
uted as  follows :  — 

For  water-supply  and  waterworks $935,000 

For  street  improvements 400,000 

For  school  sites  and  schoolhouses 227,000 

For  bridges 150,000 

For  city  hall  and  for  market  site 225,000 

For  electric  light  works 125,000 

For  current  expenses  incurred  about  ten  years  ago  .  1 50,000 

397 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

These  analyses  show  in  a  general  way  the  pur- 
poses for  which  debt  is  incurred.  The  Grand 
Rapids  waterworks  have  cost  to  date  about 
;^ 1, 500,000,  or  over  60  per  cent  more  than  the 
present  water  debt.  The  works  were  begun  about 
thirty  years  ago,  and  very  little  of  the  original  debt 
has  ever  been  paid  off,  but  the  water  department 
has  followed  a  conservative  policy  and  paid  for 
considerable  construction  from  year  to  year  out  of 
revenues  or  taxes.  New  York  City's  waterworks 
have  cost  more  than  $123,000,000,  while  the  debt 
is  only  about  ;^75,ooo,ooo,  unless  some  water  debt 
is  concealed  in  the  refunded  debt.  The  New  York 
waterworks  have  been  going  for  about  seventy  years 
however,  and  the  city  might  be  expected  to  have 
paid  off  all  the  original  debt  and  the  debt  incurred 
for  extensions  and  renewals  during  the  first  thirty 
or  forty  years. 

On  October  29,  1903,  the  people  of  San  Fran- 
cisco voted  by  more  than  two-thirds  majority  to 
bond  the  city  for  forty  years  for  $17,741,000  for 
the  following  purposes :  — 

For  repaying  streets $1,621,000 

For  building  sewers 7,250,000 

For  school  sites  and  buildings 3?595jOoo 

For  a  public  library 1,647,000 

For  a  city  and  county  hospital     .     : 1,000,000 

For  a  new  jail  and  addition  to  hall  of  justice     .     .  697,000 

For  public  parks 1,220,000 

For  playgrounds 771,000 


398 


MUNICIPAL   DEBT 

This  enormous  bond  issue  was  heartily  supported 
by  the  Merchants'  Association  of  San  Francisco, 
and  undoubtedly  represents  the  dehberate  judg- 
ment of  the  city.^  The  municipal  debt  springs  at  a 
single  bound  from  $250,000  to  about  ;^  18,000,000, 
or  $50  per  capita.  None  of  the  contemplated  im- 
provements will  be  productive.  San  Francisco 
ov/ns  no  public  utilities.  At  the  same  election  at 
which  these  bonds  were  authorized,  the  people 
failed  to  approve  by  the  necessary  two-thirds  vote 
the  proposition  to  buy  one  of  the  street-car  lines. 
The  vote  on  this  question  stood  14,381  for  the  pur- 
chase and  10,757  against  it.  Only  a  few  years  ago 
the  city  adopted  a  charter  which  declared  unequiv- 
ocally in  favor  of  the  municipal  ownership  of  all 
public  utilities.  Yet  now  the  city  plunges  into  debt 
at  the  rate  of  ;^5o  per  capita  for  unproductive  im- 
provements. If  the  city  desired  to  municipalize 
the  waterworks  alone,  it  would  involve  a  further 
debt  of  about  $30,000,000,2  gQ  ^-j^^i-  ^-j^g^  San  Fran- 
cisco would  have  a  debt  of  $135  for  every  in- 
habitant, which  would  be  much  the  largest  per 
capita  debt  among  great  American  cities. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  debt  of  most  cities  is 
for  street  improvements  and  sewers.  Often  this 
debt  only  nominally  belongs  to  the  city  as  a  whole, 
provision  being  made  to  pay  it  off  by  the  collection 

^  See  Merchants'  Association  Review,  October  and  November, 
1903. 

^  See  Municipal  Affairs,  June,  19CX),  for  an  article  by  A.  S.  Bald- 
win, entitled  "  Shall  San  P^ancisco  Municipalize  its  Water-supply?  " 

399 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

of  special  assessments  from  the  owners  of  bene- 
fited property.  In  Grand  Rapids  all  street  improve- 
ment bonds  are  paid  in  this  way.  In  many  other 
cities  conditions  are  different.  In  so  far  as  street 
improvements  are  a  direct  benefit  to  abutting  prop- 
erty, it  is  manifestly  improper  for  a  city  to  incur  a 
debt  on  their  account  unless  as  the  agent  for  the 
property  owners  who  are  unable  to  pay  except 
on  the  instalment  plan.  In  so  far  as  street  im- 
provements benefit  the  city  as  a  whole,  they  should 
be  paid  for  out  of  taxation,  and  there  is  no  good 
reason  for  running  into  debt  on  account  of  them, 
except  when  there  is  an  extraordinary  congestion 
of  improvements  in  some  one  year  so  that  it  seems 
desirable  to  keep  down  the  taxes  approximately  to 
the  normal  rate. 

Another  large  share  of  municipal  debt  has  been 
incurred  for  school  purposes.  It  seems  unfortu- 
nate to  have  to  borrow  money  to  educate  our 
children  so  that  they  will  in  turn  have  to  borrow 
money  to  educate  their  children,  and  the  school- 
houses  and  grounds  continue  to  be  in  large  part 
the  property  of  the  city's  bondholders.  It  seems 
particularly  unfitting  that  New  York  City,  with  her 
immense  wealth  and  stupendous  display,  should  be 
running  deeper  and  deeper  into  debt  for  schools. 

Unquestionably  we  must  call  a  halt  in  the  piling 
up  of  debts  for  our  children  to  pay.  The  loails 
we  make  should  be  for  shorter  periods,  better 
provision  should  be  made  for  paying  them  when 
they  fall  due,  and  more  so-called  permanent  invest- 
400 


MUNICIPAL   DEBT 

merits  should  be  made  out  of  the  annual  revenues. 
The  appalling  danger  of  a  rapidly  increasing  debt 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  future  needs  of  a  growing 
city  are  sure  to  compel  many  radical  reconstruc- 
tions in  addition  to  the  natural  expansion  of  func- 
tions where  population  is  rapidly  increasing. 


2D 


401 


CHAPTER    XIV 

A  PROGRAM   OF  CIVIC   EFFORT 

In  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  discussed 
many  proposed  remedies  for  existing  evils.  These 
are  all  ultimately  dependent  upon  the  transforma- 
tion of  our  ethical  standards.  Yet  that  transfor- 
mation cannot  take  place  by  a  turn  of  the  wheel. 
If  it  is  brought  about  at  all,  it  will  be  by  the  steady 
and  manifold  efforts  of  citizens  to  carry  through 
specific  reforms.  All  over  the  United  States  to-day 
in  all  the  principal  cities  there  are  organizations 
working  to  this  end.  Indeed,  there  are  several 
national  organizations,  made  up  of  affiliated  local 
bodies  that  recognize  the  national  import  of  the 
city  problem.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  describe 
briefly  some  of  these  organizations  in  order  to 
measure,  as  far  as  possible,  the  forces  that  are 
working  in  definite  ways  to  bring  about  civic 
betterment. 

In  January,  1894,  the  first  National  Conference 
for  good  city  government  was  held  in  Philadel- 
phia. As  an  outcome  of  the  meeting  the  National 
Municipal  League  was  formed  a  few  months  later, 
its  membership  being  composed  of  local  leagues  in 
various  cities.  Since  that  time  national  confer- 
402 


A  PROGRAM   OF  CIVIC   EFFORT 

ences  have  been  held  in  Minneapolis,  Cleveland, 
Baltimore,  Louisville,  Indianapolis,  Columbus,  Mil- 
waukee, Rochester,  Boston,  and  Detroit.  After 
each  conference  a  volume  is  published  containing 
the  reports  of  proceedings,  together  with  the  papers 
and  addresses  presented  at  the  meeting.  The 
result  of  this  policy  has  been  the  putting  forth  of 
ten  volumes  which  constitute  a  valuable  library  on 
municipal  conditions  in  the  United  States.  At 
first  the  league  confined  itself  principally  to  the  col- 
lection of  information  as  to  the  actual  condition  of 
affairs  in  different  cities  of  the  country.  After 
three  or  four  years  it  became  apparent  to  the 
moving  spirits  of  the  league  that  the  reformers 
of  the  country  needed  a  constructive  program.  As 
a  result  a  special  committee  of  seven, ^  which  num- 
bered among  its  members  several  leading  students 
of  municipal  politics,  was  appointed  to  collate  the 
manifold  lessons  of  municipal  experience  in  the 
various  localities  of  the  United  States,  and  present 
a  practicable  working  plan  for  the  guidance  of 
municipal  reformers  throughout  the  country.  The 
final  report  of  this  committee  was  made  at  the 
end  of  two  years'  study,  adopted  by  the  league 
and  embodied  in  A  Municipal  Program,  ^  to  which 

1  The  members  were  Horace  E.  Deming,  Esq.,  Prof.  Frank  J. 
Goodnow,  Dr.  Albert  Shaw,  Prof.  L.  S.  Rowe,  Clinton  Rogers 
Woodruff,  Esq.,  Charles  Richardson,  Esq.,  and  George  W.  Guthrie, 
Esq. 

^  Published  by  the  Macmillan  Company  for  the  National  Munici- 
pal League. 

403 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

several  references  have  already  been  made  in  this 
book.     This  program  consists  of  two  parts  :  — 

Firsts  a  series  of  constitutional  amendments  suited 
for  adoption  in  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  various 
commonwealths.  These  amendments  contained  in 
outline  the  reforms  which,  in  the  judgment  of  the 
league,  ought  to  be  guaranteed  beyond  the  caprice 
of  the  state  legislatures.^ 

Second,  a  general  municipal  corporations  act  suit- 
able for  adoption  by  the  various  state  legislatures  to 
supplement  and  carry  out  the  proposed  constitu- 
tional amendments. 

This  program  has  attracted  wide  attention,  and 
has  already  had  a  marked  influence  on  new  legis- 
lation in  some  states  and  cities.  The  program  un- 
doubtedly has  helped  to  clear  the  air  and  crystallize 
into  practical  form  the  best  judgment  of  students 
of  our  municipal  problems  as  to  the  legislative  re- 
forms needed. 

After  the  adoption  of  the  "program,"  the  league 
established  two  other  important  special  committees, 
one  on  the  subject  of  "Instruction  in  Municipal  Gov- 
ernment in  American  Educational  Institutions,"  and 
the  other  on  "  Uniform  Municipal  Accounting  and 
Statistics."  These  committees  also  have  done  excel- 
lent work,  especially  the  latter,  which  devised  sched- 
ules for  municipal  reports  that  have  already  been 
made  use  of  in  several  cities  and  that  promise  to  lead 
the  way  toward  a  rational  system  of  accounting.^ 

1  See  ante,  pp.  333-335,  for  a  summary  of  these  measures. 

2  See  ante,  p.  309. 

404 


A  PROGRAM   OF   CIVIC   EFFORT 

Another  national  organization,  in  some  respects 
more  important  than  the  one  we  have  just  been  dis- 
cussing, is  the  League  of  American  Municipalities, 
which  is  composed,  as  the  name  implies,  of  affiliated 
cities.  The  delegates  to  the  meetings  of  this  or- 
ganization are  city  officials,  men  who  are  grappling 
at  first  hand  with  problems  of  government  which  the 
reformers  approach,  to  a  considerable  extent,  from 
the  theoretical  standpoint.  These  meetings  are 
held  annually,  one  year  in  one  city  and  the  next  in 
another.  The  papers  and  proceedings  are  published, 
and  are  a  distinct  contribution  to  the  literature  of 
city  government.  There  is  an  excellent  semi-official 
monthly  magazine,  the  Municipal  Journal  and  En- 
gineer^ which  makes  the  league  more  useful  by  fur- 
nishing a  medium  for  education  along  the  practical 
lines  of  civic  work.  The  league  gets  its  greatest  use- 
fulness from  being  a  sort  of  clearing-house  for  the 
experience  of  cities  in  practical  administration.  At 
last  the  idea  has  dawned  upon  the  city  officials  in 
many  cities  that  municipal  administration  demands 
a  special  degree  of  intelligence.  This  is  a  most 
important  step  toward  the  rescue  of  our  cities 
from  the  unreasoning  domination  of  state  and 
national  party  politics. 

As  an  outgrowth  of  the  League  of  American 
Municipalities  several  state  leagues  of  cities  have 
been  formed,  and  in  some  cases  are  doing  impor- 
tant work  in  the  education  of  the  officials  of  small 
and  medium-sized  cities.  The  California  league 
has  had  a  particularly  vigorous  life.      So  far  as 

405 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

sheer  usefulness  goes,  the  state  leagues  ought  to 
be  of  more  importance  to  the  smaller  cities  than 
the  national  organization,  for  it  is  within  the  indi- 
vidual states  that  legislation  affecting  cities  has  to 
be  secured.  The  appalling  decentralization  of  state 
administration  was  curiously  illustrated  soon  after 
the  California  league  was  organized.  The  secre- 
tary of  the  league  wrote  to  the  secretary  of  state 
for  a  complete  list  of  the  incorporated  cities  in  Cali- 
fornia. The  list  as  furnished  contained  at  least 
thirteen  cities  that,  upon  investigation,  were  found 
to  be  no  longer  performing  municipal  functions.^ 

Besides  the  two  national  bodies  we  have  described 
there  are  a  number  of  organizations  for  special  pur- 
poses, such  as  the  American  Park  and  Outdoor 
Art  Association,  the  American  League  for  Civic 
Improvement,  and  the  American  Society  of  Mu- 
nicipal Improvements.  There  are  organizations  for 
the  waterworks  men  and  also  for  the  health  boards 
and  health  officers.  Indeed,  intermunicipal  organ- 
ization has  become  so  much  appreciated  that  it  may 
perhaps  be  overdone.  The  main  duty  of  public 
officials  is  to  stay  at  home  and  attend  to  their  offi- 
cial functions.  Trips  of  inspection,  conventions, 
and  the  like  should  never  be  permitted  to  take  the 
place  of  honest  effort  to  make  practical  use  of  the 
knowledge  already  possessed.  Nevertheless,  it  is 
a  hopeful  sign  of  the  times  that  both  citizen  re- 
formers and  municipal  officials  are  organizing  for 
discussion  and  enlightenment. 

1  See  California  Municipalities,  1899. 
406 


A  PROGRAM  OF   CIVIC   EFFORT 

Improvements  have  to  be  worked  out  practically 
in  the  home  city.  For  this  reason,  strictly  local 
organizations  are  almost  as  interesting  to  us  as 
national  and  state  bodies.  There  are  hundreds  of 
municipal  leagues,  civic  clubs,  taxpayers'  associa- 
tions, and  the  like,  in  the  United  States ;  but  their 
purposes  and  the  principles  of  their  organization 
are  by  no  means  uniform.  The  following  may  be 
considered  as  the  leading  types:  — 

1.  The  citizens'  party. 

2.  The  voters'  non-partisan  league. 

3.  The  taxpayers'  association. 

4.  The  law  and  order  league. 

5.  The  civic  improvement  club. 

(i)  The  citizens'  party  has  not  thus  far  devel- 
oped continuity  of  life  in  many  cities,  though  there 
are  frequent  instances  of  its  temporary  success. 
The  World  Almanac  for  1902  gives  statistics  of 
103  cities.^  The  mayors  are  classed  as  Republicans 
or  Democrats  in  all  but  five  of  these.  In  New 
York,  Mr.  Seth  Low  was  elected  by  a  non-partisan 
fusion  movement  headed  by  the  Citizens'  Union. 
Mayor  S.  M.  Jones,  of  Toledo,  and  Mayor  Charles 
S.  Ashley,  of  New  Bedford,  were  independent 
mayors  elected  by  their  personal  followers.  Mayor 
Eugene  E.  Schmitz,  of  San  Francisco,  was  elected 
by  the  Labor  Union  party.  The  mayor  of  Des 
Moines,  Iowa,  was  the  other  independent  mayor, 
but  I  do  not  know  his  particular  brand  of  indepen- 
dence.   There  are  more  or  less  permanent  citizens' 

^  pp.  393-394. 
407 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

parties  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  In  1896  there 
was  a  citizens'  party  organized  in  Biddef  ord,  Maine, 
and  after  four  annual  elections  in  which  it  came  off 
successful,  the  old  parties  ceased  to  put  up  can- 
didates.i  Citizens'  movements  for  the  nomination 
of  candidates  have  a  better  chance  of  success  in  the 
smaller  cities,  because  in  them  partisans  have  less 
at  stake  in  the  offices. 

(2)  The  second  type  of  local  reform  organization 
is  the  voters'  league.  The  Municipal  Voters'  League 
of  Chicago  has  won  great  fame  throughout  the 
country.  It  was  organized  in  1 896  with  the  defi- 
nite purpose  of  redeeming  the  city  council  from 
the  boodlers.  At  that  time  fifty-eight  out  of  sixty- 
eight  aldermen  were  organized  for  public  plunder .^ 
The  league  set  about  a  careful  investigation  of 
the  records  of  all  candidates  for  aldermen,  pub- 
lished its  findings,  and  recommended  for  election 
only  such  as  were  believed  to  be  aggressively 
honest,  without  regard  to  party.  After  the  fourth 
annual  campaign  Chicago  had  a  majority  of 
"  honest "  aldermen,  and  in  1903  after  four  more 
campaigns  there  were  only  seventeen  out  of 
seventy  aldermen  not  enjoying  the  confidence 
of  the  league.    The  league  pledged  its  candidates 

1  See  Rochester  Conference  for  Good  City  Government^  pp.  124- 
127. 

2  An  extremely  interesting  account  of  the  Chicago  Municipal 
"Voters'  League  by  Frank  H.  Scott,  vice-president  of  the  organ- 
ization, is  found  in  the  Detroit  Conference  for  Good  City  Govern- 
ment, pp.  147-157- 

408 


A  PROGRAM  OF   CIVIC   EFFORT 

to  a  non-partisan  organization  of  the  council.  This 
is  now  secured  by  the  appointment  of  committees 
agreed  upon  by  the  representatives  of  the  two 
parties  in  the  council.  The  influence  of  the  league 
is  enormous,  and  to  its  credit  must  be  placed  the 
fact  that  Chicago  now  has  by  far  the  best  council 
of  any  of  the  half  dozen  largest  cities  in  the  United 
States.  If  no  change  for  the  better  had  been 
brought  about,  the  city  would  no  doubt  have  been 
despoiled  ere  now  of  new  street-railway  franchises 
without  any  considerable  protection  of  the  public. 
As  it  is,  there  is  some  reason  to  hope  that  Chicago 
is  in  a  position  to  settle  the  street-railway  problem 
pretty  nearly  on  its  merits.  Candidates  for  alder- 
men are  given  a  chance  to  sign  the  program  of  the 
Voters'  League,  which  includes  non-partisanship 
in  council  matters,  the  enforcement  of  the  civil- 
service  law,  the  keeping  of  the  appropriations 
within  the  revenues  and  the  reservation  in  all 
public  utility  franchises  of  opportunity  for  munici- 
pal ownership. 

Several  other  cities  have  organizations  of  a  some- 
what similar  nature,  based  on  the  theory  that  the 
voters  will  elect  good  men  to  municipal  office  with 
little  regard  to  party  if  the  facts  in  regard  to  can- 
didates are  presented  to  the  people  impartially. 
Cleveland  has  its  Municipal  Association  which  pre- 
sents its  records  of  candidates  and  makes  recom- 
mendations for  all  city,  county,  and  school  offices. 
Salem,  Massachusetts,  has  a  Municipal  Record 
Association,  which  tabulates  and  publishes  the 
409 


THE  AMERICAN   CITY 

votes  given  by  aldermen  on  all  important  proposi- 
tions coming  before  the  city  council. 

(3)  The  taxpayers'  associations  are  generally 
organized  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  financial 
abuses  and  the  waste  of  public  funds.  They  are 
based  on  the  theory  that  the  direct  taxpayers  have 
a  special  interest  in  city  affairs,  and  that  financial 
honesty  and  economy  are  the  desideratum  of  good 
municipal  government.  As  a  rule,  they  do  not  at- 
tack or  recommend  candidates,  but  give  publicity 
to  abuses  and  strive  to  improve  the  system  of  law 
and  administration  under  which  the  abuses  have 
arisen.  The  Civic  Club  of  Grand  Rapids  is  an 
organization  of  this  kind.  The  City  Club  of  New 
York  follows  this  general  line  of  activity.  The 
Taxpayers'  League  of  Portland,  Oregon,  was  or- 
ganized in  1899,  with  the  following  declared  ob- 
jects :  — 

{a)  "  The  uniting  of  all  taxpayers  in  one  poten- 
tial non-political  centre  of  force  for  the  purpose  of 
promoting  the  general  welfare  of  this  city. 

{b)  "To  place  municipal  and  county  administra- 
tion on  a  purely  business  basis. 

{c)  "To  maintain  and  enforce  the  law  and  to 
reduce  the  expense  of  our  county  and  city  admin- 
istration to  the  lowest  cost  consistent  with  good 
government. 

{d)  "  To  protect  in  every  lawful  way  the  rights 
of  the  people  of  this  city  and  county. 

{e)  "  To  suggest  and  endeavor  to  have  adopted 
new  laws  or  amendments  to  existing  laws  where 
410 


A  PROGRAM   OF   CIVIC   EFFORT 

experience   demonstrates   the   necessity   for   such 
change." 

As  an  outgrowth  of  the  work  of  this  league, 
Portland  has  secured  its  new  charter,  to  which 
several  references  have  been  made  in  preceding 
chapters. 

(4)  The  law  and  order  leagues  are  generally  or- 
ganized for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  enforcement 
of  liquor  laws  and  the  laws  against  gambling  and 
vice.  They  often  derive  their  main  support  from 
the  churches  and  the  temperance  element.  They 
are  rather  unpopular  with  business  men,  because 
these  leagues  stand  for  uncomfortable  rigidity  in 
public  morals.  To  those  who  work  in  law  and 
order  leagues,  moral  backbone  seems  to  be  the 
supreme  need  of  public  officials.  The  work  of 
these  societies  is  invited  and  made  necessary  by 
the  entrance  of  the  saloon  into  politics,  the  corrupt 
alliance  between  the  police  and  the  vicious  classes, 
and  the  appalling  lawlessness  that  pervades  many 
American  communities  and  causes,  not  only  the 
general  deterioration  of  health  and  morals,  but 
occasional  calamities  which,  like  the  Iroquois 
theatre  fire  in  Chicago,  shock  the  community  into 
a  temporary  realization  of  the  importance  of  law 
and  official  responsibility. 

(5)  Civic  improvement  clubs  are  organizations 
of  citizens  who  believe  that  reformers  should  have  a 
more  definite  and  tangible  policy  than  mere  honesty. 
They  set  about  to  do  some  positive  work  for  the 
betterment  of  the  city.     They  may  ask  for  clean 

411 


i 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

streets,  or  better  pavements,  or  a  pure  water-supply, 
or  larger  parks.  They  stand  for  progress  prima- 
rily,—  economy,  honesty,  and  law-enforcement 
being  to  them  incidental  to  efficient  municipal 
service;  the  one  great  purpose  of  city  government. 
\  Boards  of  trade  and  chambers  of  commerce  often 
enter  this  field  for  a  part  of  their  work.  The 
most  notable  single  organization  working  along 
these  lines  is,  probably,  the  Merchants'  Association 
of  San  Francisco,  which  was  organized  about  1894 
with  47  members,  and  has  grown  in  ten  years  to 
include  on  its  rolls  the  names  of  more  than  1300 
business  men  and  firms.  The  association  prints  a 
monthly  Review  in  an  edition  of  6000  copies 
which  are  distributed  free.  The  association,  by 
taking  the  contract  and  doing  the  work  itself, 
demonstrated  that  the  streets  of  San  Francisco 
could  be  cleaned.  It  has  also  constructed  and 
presented  to  the  city  a  well-equipped  public  con- 
venience station  under  the  sidewalk  on  a  down- 
town square,  and  an  "  isle  of  safety  "  in  one  of  the 
crowded  streets,  in  order  to  show  the  city  the  util- 
ity of  these  improvements.  It  has  for  years  taken 
an  influential  part  in  the  civic  life  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  has  helped  to  secure  the  new  charter  with 
its  civil-service  reform  provisions,  and  the  immense 
bond  issue  recently  voted  for  sewers,  pavements, 
parks,  playgrounds,  and  pubhc  buildings. 

It  is  true  that  few  reform  organizations  confine 
themselves  strictly  to  any  one  of  the  five  main  lines 
of  activity  that  I  have  described.     Yet  nearly  all 

412 


A  PROGRAM   OF  CIVIC   EFFORT 

municipal  leagues  lay  particular  emphasis  on  one 
or  another  of  these  policies.  Many  more  organi- 
zations are  comparatively  unsuccessful  than  are 
successful.  Yet  a  review  of  the  struggles  for  re- 
form in  the  cities  of  the  United  States  during  the 
past  ten  years  shows  a  marvellous  development  of 
public  interest  and  an  irrepressible  tendency  tow- 
ard agitation  and  education.  If,  from  the  stand- 
point of  municipal  shortcomings,  the  outlook  is 
rather  pessimistic,  on  the  other  hand,  the  splendid 
vitality  of  citizenship  shown  in  the  civic  awakenings 
of  the  last  decade  gives  us  good  ground  for  hope. 
Indeed,  the  most  cheerful  thing  for  us  in  the  pres- 
ent high  efficiency  of  city  government  in  Great 
Britain  lies  in  the  fact  that,  seventy  years  ago, 
British  municipal  administration  was  more  hope- 
lessly corrupt  than  ours  now  is.  True,  English 
cities  began  to  work  out  their  problems  long  before 
suffrage  became  almost  universal,  long  before  street 
franchises  obtained  their  present  enormous  values, 
and  in  a  country  where  urban  population  is  homo- 
geneous. Yet  our  American  cities  along  with  their 
greater  difficulties  have  some  advantages  over  the 
British  cities  of  seventy  years  ago.  Universal 
popular  education  and  the  characteristic  hopeful- 
ness and  energy  of  the  American  people  are  im- 
portant elements  in  the  outlook  for  better  city 
government  in  the  United  States.  There  is  noth- 
ing, however,  in  the  general  municipal  situation  to 
comfort  the  citizen  who  is  not  himself  giving  his 
personal  attention  to  civic  betterment. 
413 


THE   AMERICAN    CITY 

The  fundamental  plank  in  the  program  of  civic 
reform  must  be  a  greater  honesty  in  our  ideas  of 
wealth  and  our  industrial  relations.  We  have  noted 
the  main  lines  along  which  citizens  now  organize 
for  reform  purposes.  Let  us  resume  and  elaborate 
our  program.  The  first  necessity  of  democracy  is 
that  productive  labor  be  universally  respected.  The 
most  promising  means  for  the  attainment  of  this 
end  is  the  extension  of  manual  training  and  indus- 
trial education  in  the  schools.  Along  with  this 
must  go  the  public  provision  of  the  necessary 
gardens,  laboratories,  and  workshops  for  the  use  of 
the  children.  Along  this  line  also  is  the  organization 
of  the  children  into  leagues  for  civic  improvement 
and  the  performance  of  certain  civic  functions.  In 
the  first  place  ^  therefore^  let  every  municipal  reformer 
give  his  hearty  support  to  every  effort  that  may  be 
made  to  set  the  children  of  the  city  at  work  in  con- 
nection with  their  education. 

The  second  great  necessity  is  that  citizens  should 
realize  their  interest  in  civic  affairs  by  feeling  the 
burden  and  enjoying  the  benefits  of  city  government. 
This  is  chiefly  hindered  by  a  dishonest  system  of 
taxation  and  the  grant  of  special  privileges.  Taxa- 
tion should  be  so  arranged  that  every  citizen  would 
contribute  directly  to  the  support  of  government  in 
proportion  to  his  privileges.  Either  special  fran- 
chise values  should  be  wiped  out  under  private  or 
public  management,  or  they  should  be  treated  like 
other  exclusive  rights  to  the  use  of  land  and  their 
benefits  be  drawn  into  the  public  treasury.     In  the 

414 


A  PROGRAM   OF   CIVIC   EFFORT 

second  place,  therefore,  let  every  municipal  reformer 
support  every  effort  that  may  be  made  to  exempt 
credits,  personal  property,  and,  ujtimately,  improve- 
ments from  taxation,  to  bring  fratichise  values  upon 
the  tax  rolls,  and  to  obtain  for  the  public  full  value 
for  every  franchise  granted,  either  by  itnproved  ser- 
vice and  lower  charges  or  by  an  annual  rental  paid 
into  the  city  treasury. 

The  third  necessity  of  democracy  is  that  the  peo- 
ple's deliberate  judgment  in  any  community  shall 
be  freely  expressed  and  honestly  carried  out.  The 
hiatus  that  exists  between  the  liquor  laws  and  the 
laws  against  vice,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  stand- 
ard of  law  enforcement  supported  by  public  sen- 
timent, on  the  other,  is  in  cities  a  standing  bribe 
offered  to  police  officials  to  enter  into  corrupt  alli- 
ance with  vice  and  crime.  This  bribe  is  often  ac- 
cepted, with  baleful  consequences  to  the  city.  In 
order  to  unify  municipal  policy  and  remove  the  civic 
hypocrisy  that  now  paralyzes  the  arm  of  city  gov- 
ernment, we  must  have  laws  made  and  enforced 
by  officers  responsible  to  the  same  constituency. 
In  order  to  make  the  popular  will  effective  as  the 
public  will,  we  must  reserve  to  the  people  the  right 
of  passing  upon  measures  directly.  In  the  third 
place,  therefore,  let  every  mtmicipal  reformer  support 
every  effort  to  bring  about  municipal  home  rule  in 
local  affairs,  central  administrative  control  in  state 
affairs,  and  the  initiative,  the  referendum,  and  the 
recall. 


415 


THE   AMERICAN   CITY 

These  three  principles  — 
(I)  Universal  respect  for  labor, 
(II)  Universal  participation  in  the  burdens  and 

benefits  of  government, 
III)  Direct  responsibility  of   the  people  for  the 
\  control  of  their  own  public  affairs  — 

are  the  bases  on  which  the  success  of  democracy 
in  American  cities  depends,  —  and  if  democracy 
fails  here,  the  story  of  America  will  be  a  closed 
chapter  in  the  annals  of  freedom. 


416 


INDEX 


American  League  for  Civic  Im- 
provement, work  of,  for  civic 
education,  ii8,  119. 

Baldwin,  William  H.,  Jr.,  views  on 
protection  of  vice,  132,  133. 

Baltimore,  streets  owned  by  street 
railways  in,  31 ;  board  of  esti- 
mates of,  286. 

Baths,  in  schools,  115,  116,  165; 
public,  in  American  cities,  163- 
165. 

Boards  of  estimate  and  apportion- 
ment, in  New  York  City,  283- 
285;  in  New  Haven,  285,  286;  in 
other  cities,  286. 

Booth,  Charles,  views  of,  in  regard 
to  transportation  problem  of 
London,  44  note. 

Boston,  public  gymnasia  in,  116; 
pleasure  grounds  of,  162  note ; 
public  baths  of,  164;  municipal 
printing  plant  of,  222,  223; 
woman  suffrage  in,  248,  249; 
mayor's  cabinet  in,  301 ;  poll- 
taxes  in,  348 ;  special  assess- 
ments in,  376,  377 ;  valuations  of 
land  and  buildings  in,  381 ;  reve- 
nues of,  381,  382;   debt  of,  396, 

397- 

Brace,  Charles  Loring,  views  of, 
on  remedies  for  congestion  in 
New  York,  38;  on  dangers  of 
tenement-house  life  in  New  York, 
124. 

Buildings,  inspection  of,  189;  ne- 
cessity for  same,  190-191. 


Ceremonials,  municipal,  signifi- 
cance of,  166,  167. 

Charities,  public,  a  form  of  mu- 
nicipal insurance,  197-199. 

Chase,  Harvey  S.,  report  of,  on 
Boston  printing  plant,  222,  223; 
report  of,  on  Boston  special  as- 
sessments, 376. 

Chicago,  fight  for  life  in,  191-196; 
sentiment  for  municipal  owner- 
ship in,  267;  home  rule  in,  320; 
franchise  values  of  street  rail- 
ways in,  360 ;  work  of  municipal 
voters'  league  in,  408,  409. 

Cincinnati,  regulation  of  prostitu- 
tion in,  128-130. 

Cities,  population  of,  4;  their  in- 
fluence upon  national  life,  14,  15, 
16,  21 ;  growth  of,  18 ;  relation  of, 
to  political  parties,  20 ;  the  prob- 
lem of,22ff. ;  Benjamin  Harrison's 
ideal  for,  26,  27 ;  their  influence 
upon  human  nature,  91,  92 ;  pe- 
culiar educational  problem  of, 
97-101 ;  uses  of  leisure  in,  121  fif. ; 
marriage  statistics  in,  133-137; 
causes  of  vice  in,  138-140 ;  preva- 
lence of  gambling  in,  145-147; 
intemperance  a  vice  of,  149; 
necessity  of  insurance  in,  174, 
175 ;  expansion  of  cooperative 
functions  in,  201,  202;  effects  of 
centralized  social  organization 
in,  231-234;  ownership  of 
homes  in,  246,  247;  illiteracy 
in,  250;  theory  of  single  tax  in, 
380-385. 


2E 


417 


INDEX 


Citizens'  party,  a  mode  of  civic 
effort,  407,  408. 

Civic  improvement  club,  a  mode  of 
civic  eifort,  411,  412. 

Civic  spirit,  nature  of,  heretofore, 
25 ;  the  children's,  in  New  York, 
118 ;  dearth  of,  in  American 
cities,  167,  168;  significance  of, 
167-171 ;  awakening  of,  171-173 ; 
influence  oh,  of  fee  system,  214; 
of  rapid  material  development, 
215;  municipal  ownership  as  a 
stimulant  for,  227,  228. 

Civil  service,  the  merit  system  in, 
298-301. 

Cleveland,  federal  plan  in,  292, 
293,  294,  298,  301. 

Colorado,  home  rule  in,  329-331. 

Committee  of  Fifteen,  views  of,  on 
the  social  evil,  124-126 ;  on  reme- 
dies for  the  same,  140-143. 

Contracts,  municipal,  219-221. 

Cooperation,  civic,  200  ff. ;  con- 
trast of,  with  industrial  coopera- 
tion, 200,  201 ;  in  operation  of 
public  utilities,  202-205  '>  ^^  sup- 
ply of  milk,  206-208 ;  in  public 
education,  208-210 ;  in  supply  of 
fuel,  210-212;  dangers  of,  212- 
215;  results  of,  as  compared 
with  private  enterprise,  215,  216 ; 
principles  of,  in  the  employment 
of  labor,  217-226 ;  limits  of,  226- 
228. 

Council  system,  the  norm  of  mu- 
nicipal organization,  277;  descrip- 
tion of,  in  England,  278,  279; 
modifications  of,  in  the  United 
Siates,  279  ff. ;  remnants  of,  in 
the  United  States,  288-290; 
organization  of,  290-292. 

Dallas,  Texas,  elected  officials  in, 

280. 
Deming,  Horace  E.,  views  of,  in 

relation  to  American  democracy, 

269. 


Democracy,  and  city  life,  i  ff. ; 
American,  principles  of,  2 ;  con- 
ditions favorable  to,  4, 5  ;  effect  of 
immigration  upon,  5,  6 ;  effect  of 
social  organization  upon,  6,7; 
effect  of  the  expansion  of  human 
interests  upon,  8,  9;  effect  of  the 
wage  and  salary  system  upon,  10, 
11;  relations  of  organized  capi- 
tal to,  10,  II ;  historical  develop- 
ment of,  in  the  United  States,  12, 
13,  14;  relation  of,  to  vice,  121, 
122;  relation  of,  to  suffrage 
qualifications,  244  ff. ;  relation  of, 
to  woman  suffrage,  249 ;  relation 
of,  to  representation  by  interests, 
251,  252;  alleged  failures  of,  263- 
265. 

Denver,  home  rule  in,  330,  331. 

Detroit,  referendum  on  franchises 
in,  59,  60;  board  of  estimates  in, 
286 ;  special  assessments  in,  369, 

370. 
Direct  legislation,  advantages  of, 
262-270;    petitions    required   in 
use  of,  273. 

Education,  civic,  91  ff. ;  principal 
factors  in,  92;  importance  of 
civic  traditions  in,  92,  93,  94 ;  the 
home  as  a  factor  in,  94-97 ;  the 
public  school  as  a  factor  in,  97- 
117;  children's  civic  leagues  as 
a  factor  in,  118-120;  a  coopera- 
tive function,  208 ;  technical, 
209,  210. 

Elections,  necessity  of  honesty  in, 
274. 

Electric  lighting,  necessity  of  pub- 
he  control  of,  48,  49;  municipal 
ownership  of,  53. 

Ely,  Richard  T.,  views  of,  on  mu- 
nicipal ownership,  227. 

Employment,  direct,  of  labor,  217, 
221-223. 

Expenditures,  municipal,  amount 
of,  341,  342. 


418 


INDEX 


Federal  plan,  principles  of,  292; 
limitations  upon,  293-303. 

Finance,  department  of,  t^ken  out 
of  control  of  council,  283 ;  under 
boards  of  estimate  and  appor- 
tionment, 283-286. 

Fire,  protection  from,  186  ;  losses 
from,  187;  cost  of,  compared 
with  police,  188. 

Forester,  city,  work  of,  in  Spring- 
field, Massachusetts,  119. 

Franchises,  grant  of,  55  ff. ;  in  Mich- 
igan, 56,  57;  in  South  Carolina 
and  other  states,  57,  58 ;  in  Vir- 
ginia and  Colorado,  58,  59 ;  du- 
ration of,  60,  61,  62,  63;  condi- 
tions of,  64-67 ;  compensation 
for,  67-69;  evils  of  private  pos- 
session of,  69-76;  remedies  for 
evils  in  connection  with,  76-88; 
correct  policy  in  regard  to,  88- 
90;  taxation  of,  352-357;  value 
of,  358-361 ;  regulations  regard- 
ing, 362,  363 ;  paving  tax  in  pay- 
ment for,  364;  correct  policy 
regarding  value  of,  364,  365, 
366;  a  part  of  municipal  debt, 
389.  390. 

Freeholders,  proportion  of,  in  cities, 
245,  246. 

Fuel  yards,  municipal,  210,  211. 

Gambling,  prevalence  and  dangers 
of,  144 ;  special  causes  of,  in  cit- 
ies, 145-147 ;  public  policy  in  re- 
gard to,  148,  149. 

Gas,  necessity  of  public  control 
over  distribution  of,  46 ;  leakage 
of,  47,  48 ;  municipal  ownership 
of,  in  the  United  States,  53. 

George,  Henry,  theory  of,  in  regard 
to  taxation,  380. 

Gilbert,  C.  B.,  views  of,  on  public 
administration,  294,  295. 

Gill,  Wilson  L.,  his  advocacy  of 
self-government  in  the  schools, 
106. 


Goodnow,  Professor  F.  J.,  views  of, 
on  home  rule,  332,  333. 

Grand  Rapids,  public  and  private 
parks  of,  161, 162;  special  assess- 
ments in,  370 ;  debt  of,  397,  398. 

Gymnasia,  public,  a  factor  in  civic 
education,  116. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  views  of,  on 
the  ideal  city,  26,  27. 

Head,  James  M.,  views  of,  on  the 
municipal  contract  system,  220, 
221. 

Health,  protection  of  public,  191  ff. ; 
history  of,  in  Chicago,  191-194 ; 
dangers  to,  of  infants,  194,  195; 
dangers  to,  from  impure  water, 
193,  196;  cost  of  protection  of, 
196,  197. 

Home  rule,  municipal,  313  ff. ; 
principles  of,  313,  314 ;  in  Michi- 
gan, 315;  interference  with,  315, 
316;  scheme  for,  in  New  York, 
322,  323;  in  Missouri,  323-326; 
in  California,  327,  328 ;  in  other 
states,  328-331 ;  in  program  of 
National  Municipal  League,  333- 
336;  phases  of,  336-339;  objec- 
tion to,  339,  340. 

Illiteracy,  extent  of,  in  United 
States,  250. 

Indianapolis,  special  assessments 
in,  372,  373- 

Initiative,  purpose  of,  268 ;  advan- 
tages of,  as  a  part  of  direct  legis- 
lation scheme,  269,  270. 

Insurance,municipal,  174  ff. ;  by  po- 
lice department,  175-186 ;  by  fire 
department,  186-188 ;  by  building 
inspection,  189-191 ;  by  health 
department,  191-197 ;  by  charities 
department,  197-199. 

Intemperance,  a  city  vice,  149. 

Jordan,  David  Starr,  views  of,  on 
local  citizenship,  243. 


419 


INDEX 


Labor,  direct  employment  of,  217, 
221-223  *>  relation  of,  to  city,  223- 
226. 

Law  and  order  league,  a  mode  of 
civic  effort,  411. 

League  of  American  Municipalities, 
work  of,  405. 

League  of  California  Municipali- 
ties, work  of,  405,  406. 

Leisure,  control  of,  121  ff. ;  relation 
of  home  life  to,  122-124;  relation 
of,  to  the  social  evil,  124-126;  re- 
lation of,  to  gambling,  145,  146; 
governmental  duty  in  regard  to, 
156-158;  positive  program  for, 
158  ff. ;  uses  of,  168,  169. 

Licenses,  as  a  source  of  municipal 
revenue,  349-352. 

Local  centres  of  civic  life,  229  ff. ; 
neighborhood  units  as,  234,  235 ; 
the  saloons  as,  235,  236;  the 
public  schools  as,  237,  238  ;  ward 
halls  as,  239-241 ;  relation  of 
election  by  districts  to,  241,  242. 

Local  responsibility,  313  ff. 

Los  Angeles,  water  supply  of,  45, 
46;  the  recall  in  charter  of, 
271. 

Maltbie,  Milo  Roy,  valuation  of 
franchises  by,  39  note,  360. 

Markets,  a  cooperative  function  of 
cities,  207. 

Marriage,  statistics  of,  in  city  and 
country,  133-137;  vices  of,  in 
cities,  138,  139,  143. 

Marshalltown,  Iowa,  instruction  in 
sex  physiology  in,  117. 

Mayor,  veto  power  of,  281,  282; 
cabinet  of,  301-303  ;  responsibility 
of,  under  an  ideal  charter,  305. 

Michigan,  franchise  regulations  in, 
56,  57 ;  doctrine  of  local  self-gov- 
ernment in,  315, 

Milk,  supply  of,  for  cities,  206. 

Minnesota,  home  rule  in,  328,  329. 

Missouri,  scheme  for  home  rule  in. 


323-326;   special  assessments  in 
certain  cities  of,  375,  376. 

Municipal  accounting,  uniformity 
in,  308-310;  simplicity  in,  310. 

Municipal  debt,  386  ff. ;  theory  of, 
386;  amount  of,  387,  388,  389; 
franchises,  a  part  of,  389,  390; 
prospective  increase  of,  390, 391 ; 
relation  of,  to  the  suffrage,  391, 
392 ;  limits  upon,  392-394 ;  anal- 
ysis of,  in  New  York,  396;  in 
Boston,  396,  397 ;  in  Grand  Rap- 
ids, 397 ;  in  San  Francisco,  398 ; 
generally,  399-401. 

Municipal  monopolies,  nature  of, 
202-205. 

Municipal  ownership,  of  water  in 
Los  Angeles,  45,  46;  of  gas  in 
Glasgow,  46,  47,  48;  extent  of, 
in  the  United  States,  52,  53,  54, 
55  ;  of  street  railway  tracks,  elec- 
tric wires,  etc.,  80-82 ;  of  all  pub- 
lic utilities,  82-88;  reasons  for, 
202-205,  227 ;  sentiment  for,  in 
Chicago,  267. 

Municipal  Revenues,  341  ff.  ; 
sources  of,  343  ff. ;  from  gifts,  344, 
345;  from  subsidies,  345-347: 
from  fees,  347,  348;  from  poll-  f 
taxes,  348,  349;  from  licenses, 
349-352;  from  franchises,  355- 
367;  from  special  assessments, 
367-378 ;  from  general  property 
tax,  378 ;  from  personal  property 
tax,  379;  from  land  tax,  380-385. 

Nagel,  Charles,  views  of,  in  relation 
to  home  rule  in  Missouri,  325, 
326. 

Nashville,  direct  employment  of 
labor  in,  221 ;  executive  respon- 
sibility in,  280,  281,  294. 

National  Municipal  League,  atti- 
tude of,  toward  the  council  sys- 
tem, 291 ;  scheme  of  organization 
recommended  by,  307;  com- 
mittee of,  on  uniform  accounting. 


420 


INDEX 


309  ;  constitutional  amendments 
proposed  by,  333-336;  program 
of,  in  regard  to  special  assess- 
ments, 369;  constitutional  debt 
limit  proposed  by,  394;  organi- 
zation and  work  of,  402- 
404. 

New  Haven,  board  of  finance  in, 
285,  286. 

New  Orleans,  sewerage  franchises 

in,  S3.  54- 

New  York  City,  Whitman Vdescrip- 
tion  of,  23,  24;  absence  of  homes 
in,  25;  transportation  problems 
of,  29,  30,  31,  38  ff. ;  congestion 
of  population  in,  35  ff. ;  tenement- 
house  problem  in,  95,  96;  juve- 
nile street-cleaning  leagues  in, 
118 ;  vice  in,  as  a  result  of  con- 
gestion, 124;  uses  of  Mulberry 
Bend  Park  in,  159;  school  baths 
in,  165 ;  board  of  estimate  in,  283- 
285 ;  experience  of,  with  mayor's 
limited  power  of  removal,  296; 
debt  of,  396. 

New  York  State,  scheme  for  home 
rule  in,  322,  323 ;  special  assess- 
ments in  second  class  cities  of, 

373.  374- 
Nominations,  reform  in,  257-260; 
free,  260,  261 ;  fees  for,  261. 

Official  responsibility,  276  fF. ;  as 
secured  by  the  council  system, 
277-292 ;  as  secured  by  the  fed- 
eral plan,  292-303 ;  principles  of, 
304-306 ;  as  secured  by  account- 
ing and  reports,  307-312. 

Ohio,  new  system  of  municipal 
government  in,  295,  296 ;  special 
legislation  in,  317,  318;  special 
assessments  in,  370-372. 

Oregon,  home  rule  in,  331. 

Parks,  public,  an  element  in  the 
control  of  leisure,  159;  statistics 
of,  in  American  cities,  160 ;  rela- 

42 


tion  of,  to  private  pleasure 
grounds,  161-163. 

Pennsylvania,  special  legislation  in, 
320,  321. 

Playgrounds,  distribution  of,  in 
American  cities,  iii,  112;  pur- 
pose of,  112,  113. 

Police  magistrate,  important  func- 
tions of,  180,  181. 

Police,  relations  of,  to  vice,  128- 
132;  functions  of,  176, 181 ;  rela- 
tions of,  to  the  punishment  of 
crime,  177-180 ;  attractiveness  of 
functions  of,  to  youth,  181,  182; 
expense  of,  compared  with  edu- 
cation, 182-184;  right  attitude 
towards,  184-186. 

Political  parties,  relation  of,  to  city 
affairs,  253-260;  membership  in, 
as  a  qualification  for  appoint- 
ments, 296-298. 

Poll-taxes,  in  Boston,  348. 

Popular  responsibility,  244  ff. ;  re- 
lation of  suffrage  to,  244-250 ;  re- 
lation of  political  parties  to,  253- 
260;  relation  of  direct  legis- 
lation to,  262-270;  relation  of 
the  recall  to,  271,  272;  relation 
of  proportional  representation 
to,  272;  relation  of  the  boss 
to,  273. 

Portland,  Oregon,  executive  board     >  P/ 
in,  303;    home-rule  charter  for,  ' 

331 ;  franchise  regulations  in, 
362,  363;  taxpayers*  association 
of,  410,  411. 

Primary  reform,  progress  of,  257, 
258  ;  objections  to,  258-260, 

Program  of  civic  effort,  402  ff. 

Proportional     representation,     fu-    i 
tility    of,    in    municipal    affairs, 
272. 

Public  utilities,  the  city's  paramount 
interest  in,  49;  tendencies  of, 
towards  monopoly,  50,  51 ;  con- 
trol of,  52  ff. ;  monopoly  charac- 
ter of,  202-205. 

I 


INDEX 


Recall,  in  Los  Angeles  charter,  271 ; 
purpose  of,  271,  272. 

Referendum,  importance  of,  in  mu- 
nicipal affairs,  262-267;  use  of, 
in  Illinois  and  Massachusetts, 
267,  268. 

Reform  club  of  New  York,  fran- 
chise estimates  by,  39  note. 

Reform  organizations,  national, 
402-406;   local,  407-413. 

Reports,  municipal,  importance  of, 
308,  310-312. 

St.  Louis,  corruption  in  franchise 
grants  of,  70,  71 ;  home  rule  in, 
325.  326. 

St.  Paul,  limitations  upon  council's 
powers  in,  286;  conference  com- 
mittee in,  302;  franchise  regula- 
tions in,  362 ;  special  assessments 
in,  374.  375. 

Saloon,  American  attitude  towards, 
149,  150;  social  services  per- 
formed by,  150-153;  Sunday 
closing  of,  153,  154 ;  political  in- 
fluence of,  155 ;  as  a  local  civic 
centre,  235,  236;  local  option  on, 
242,  243. 

San  Francisco,  home-rule  charter 
of,  328;  new  debt  of,  398,  399; 
Merchants'  Association  of,  412. 

Schools,  public,  an  instrument  of 
civic  education,  97-117;  the  kin- 
dergarten in,  loi,  102;  manual 
training  in,  102-104 ;  self-govern- 
ment in,  105-107;  their  function 
in  assimilating  the  foreign  ele- 
ments, 108,  109;  civics  in,  109, 
no;  influence  of  playgrounds, 
vacation  schools,  etc.,  upon,  115- 
117;  cost  of,  compared  with  po- 
lice, 182-184;  technical,  209;  as 
local  centres  of  civic  life,  237, 238. 

Schools,  vacation,  purpose  of,  114, 
115;  influence  of,  upon  regular 
schools,  115,  116. 

Search.  Preston  W.,  views  of,  in 


regard  to  the  surroundings  of 
city  schools,  120. 

Sewerage,  municipal  ownership  of 
systems  of,  53,  54. 

Shaw,  Dr.  Albert,  views  of,  on 
municipal  gas  in  Glasgow,  46, 47, 
48 ;  views  of,  on  municipal  owner- 
ship in  Germany,  83 ;  commenda- 
tion of  the  Gill  school  city  by,  106. 

Sikes,  George  C.,  article  by,  on  in- 
determinate franchises,  78. 

Single  tax,  theory  of,  in  relation  to 
cities,  380-385. 

Sinking  funds,  for  public  industries, 
how  provided,  366,  367 ;  for  un- 
productive debts,  395. 

Social  evil,  causes  of,  124-126;  dan- 
gers of,  to  democracy,  126,  127 ; 
American  policy  in  regard  to, 
127,  128;  regulation  of,  in  Cin- 
cinnati, 128-130;  a  cause  of  police 
corruption,  130-132;  relation  of 
marriage  to,  133-140;  remedies 
for,  140-143,  148,  149. 

Special  assessments,  methods  of 
levying,  367,  368 ;  proposed  by 
National  Municipal  League,  369 ; 
in  Detroit,  369,  370;  in  Grand 
Rapids,  370;  in  Ohio,  370-372; 
in  Indianapolis,  372,  373  ;  in  New 
York  cities  of  second  class,  373, 
374.  375;  in  Missouri,  375,  376; 
in  New  York  City,  Chicago,  and 
Boston,  376,  377;  total  receipts 
from,  377,  378. 

Special  legislation,  evils  of,  316,  317 ; 
prohibition  of,  317-322;  Hmita- 
tions  upon,  322,  323. 

Springfield,  Massachusetts,  city  for- 
ester in,  119 ;  school  baths  in,  165 ; 
milk  production  of,  206. 

Street,  the,  28  ff. ;  public  ownership 
of,  31,  32. 

Street  railways,  social  importance 
of,  32,  33;  their  r61e  in  relation 
to  parks  and  pleasure  grounds, 
161, 162 ;  sentiment  for  municipal 


422 


INDEX 


ownership  of,  in  Chicago,  267; 
capitalization  and  franchise  val- 
ues of,  359,  360. 

Strong,  Josiah,  author  of  The 
Twentieth  Century  City,  17,  18. 

Subsidies,  state,  to  cities,  345-347. 

Suffrage,  property  qualifications 
for,  244,  245;  basis  of,  in  Eng- 
land, ^6;  women's  rights  to, 
247-249 ;  educational  qualifica- 
tions for,  249,  250. 

Taxation,  see  revenues. 

Taxpayers'  association,  a  mode  of 
civic  effort,  410,  411. 

Telephones,  necessity  of  public 
control  of,  48,  49. 

Tenement-houses,  problems  of,  in 
New  York,  36  ff. ;  in  other  cities, 
43,  44 ;  relation  of,  to  home  life, 
95.  96. 

Theatres,  municipal,  need  of,  in 
American  cities,  165,  166. 

Thurston,  Henry  W.,  his  outline 
for  teaching  civics,  109,  no ;  his 
story  of  Chicago's  health  activi- 
ties, 191-194. 

Tolstoy,  his  indictment  of  police 
and  judicial  system,  177  note. 

Tooke,  Charles  W.,  views  of,  on 
municipal  debt  limit,  394. 


Transportation,  facilities  for,  in 
New  York  City,  29,  30;  neces- 
sity for  public  control  of,  31  flf. ; 
problems  of,  in  New  York,  38  ff. ; 
in  London,  44  note. 

Typhoid  fever,  prevalence  and 
causes  of,  195,  196. 

Van  Sluyters,  Rev.  B.  A.,  views  of, 
on  the  uses  of  ward  halls,  239- 
241. 

Voters'  league,  a  mode  of  civic 
effort,  408-410. 

Waring,  Colonel  George  E.,  his 
work  with  the  children  in  clean- 
ing New  York  City  streets,  118 ; 
his  experience  with  laborers,  224. 

Washington  City,  revenue  of,  from 
national  subsidies,  346. 

Washington  State,  home  rule  in, 
328. 

Water  supply,  necessity  for  public 
control  of,  45, 46 ;  in  Los  Angeles, 
idem  ;  municipal  ownership  of,  in 
the  United  States,  52,  53 ;  in  Cal- 
ifornia, 54. 

Weber,  Adna  F.,  author  of  The 
Growth  of  Cities,  18. 

Whitman,  Walt,  views  of,  upon  the 
city  problem,  23,  24. 


423 


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